New Delhi: A slowdown in construction of the strategic roads in the remote border areas is attributed to the Border Roads Organisation, the nodal agency for executing works for easy movement of the Army, is battling a serior shortage of engineers and officers.
An internal report of BRO says it has the authorised strength of 1488 Group-A officers, but it has currently only 976, a shortage of about 35 per cent. Even in case of Group B and C posts, the deficiency is about 15 per cent.
As against the sanctioned strength of 1,110 civil and mechanical engineers, it has only 789. Since its personnel are always in the remote areas where neither medical facilities are available nor roads to quickly rush them to hospitals, the BRO has its own force of doctors.
However, it has only 75 doctors on rolls as against the sanctioned strength of 145. The large number of posts lying vacant is predominantly due to poor intake via direct recruitment through the Engineering Services Examination conducted by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission).
In 2017, the Defence Ministry under which BRO operates had issued 48 appointment letters for the officer cadre, but only 25 persons joined while only 24 had joined the previous year, as against the issuance of 60 letters. The BRO officials complain the gap in the number of vacancies is increasing since the appointment letters are not issued as demanded by the BRO.
