The Himachal Government would provide all assistance to the armed forces and their requests for strengthening rail, road and air infrastructure on border areas of the State, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said on Monday.
He was speaking at a function after he flagged-off the Northern Frontier Mountaineering Expedition of Indian Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Force, to Mount leo Pargial (22,222) feet at ITBP Campus in Tara Devi here.
“If Army wants to have an Airfield near Indo-Tibet border somewhere in Spiti valley, we will provide them all possible assistance”, he said adding that earlier also, our Government had raised this issue with the Union Government time and again and also that of Bilaspur-Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-leh rail line”.
As of now, General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) under Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was maintaining the border roads but as we have hilly terrain it becomes difficult to undertake development in comparison to adjoining China border side, where there were vast wide plateaus, said Virbhadra Singh.
“In the larger interest of the nation, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces and other parallel agencies deployed in the State on international and inter-State borders”, said the Chief Minister.
Chief Secretary VC Pharka was also present on the occasions amongst other senior officers and jawans of ITBP.
Speaking with the media on sidelines of the function, the Chief Minister said fencing would be done on all sides of ‘water storage tanks’ in Shimla and the water tanks and the fencing would be locked from outside to prevent any untoward incident like Yug’s murder. He said that efforts would be to install CCTV cameras at such places so that such incidents as was in Yug’s case, were not repeated. It was criminal negligence on the part of Municipal Corporation, Shimla, he said.