By IANS,
New Delhi : The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has moved out of Maoist-affected Chhattisgarh where it was constructing a national highway, the Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, in a written reply, said the BRO work, codenamed Project Hirak, was closed down April 1 this year after the government wanted the defence ministry agency to concentrate on strategic border roads.
BRO was laying a 293-km stretch of National Highway-16 from Chennur in Andhra Pradesh to Sosanpal in Chhattisgarh and, of this, it had completed 189 km when it closed down Project Hirak.
The remainder of the 293-km stretch has been handed over to the state public works department for construction, Antony said.
“In order to enable BRO to give priority to strategic border roads, the government has closed Project Hirak on 1.4.2011 and handed over NH-16 to the state PWD for balance construction,” the minister said.