Rajnath Singh emphasises Centre's efforts to ensure development in border villages at Border Area Development Conclave

Singh emphasised the Centre's Vibrant Village programme and said, "Our objective is to transform the villages along the Northern borders, especially in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, which are suffering from limited connectivity and infrastructure, into a 'Model Village'. We aim to connect them to the mainstream of development."

He said that in the last 10 years, more than 8,500 kms of roads have been constructed in the border regions in collaboration with the Border Roads Organisation.

"Apart from this, if I talk about bridges, in these years we have constructed over 400 permanent bridges. Be it the Atal Tunnel, the Sela Tunnel, or the Shiku-La Tunnel, which is going to be the world's highest tunnel, all these will prove to be milestones in border area development," Singh said.

"Our government has started the 220-kilo-volt Srinagar-Leh Electricity Line to connect the border areas of Ladakh with the National Electricity Grid. In addition, the transmission and distribution infrastructure of north-eastern states is being strengthened," he added.

Further, highlighting the efforts to ensure connectivity in the border villages, the Defence Minister said that high-speed internet has been provided to over 1,500 villages through the Bharat-Net broadband project. "In the last four years alone, more than 7,000 border villages have been connected with internet connections, and our focus has been Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

He said that the central government ensured prompt military deployments in sensitive regions by building a network of roads and bridges in the border areas. Singh further emphasised that with the development of infrastructure in these areas, people living in the border areas can easily connect with the rest of the population of the country.

Singh also stressed the tourism potential in the border areas, which have seen an upward trajectory in the past few years.

"Tourism has immense potential in border areas, but it could not reach the desired heights due to a lack of infrastructure. Things have changed since this government came to power. We are working towards development in these areas," he said.

"From 2020 to 2023, the footfall of tourists in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh increased by 30 per cent. There has been a significant increase in Kashmir as compared to the last few years. This has helped in job creation and improving the local economy. We are taking consistent steps to make J&K a tourist hotspot. When there is economic development in border areas, then we will see many positive outcomes, including reverse migration," Singh added. (ANI)