(This story originally appeared in on Mar 10, 2017)

NEW DELHI: As if the ever-expanding military asymmetry with China was not enough in terms of the defence budget, force-levels, missiles, fighters, submarines and the like, India continues to also flounder in developing the requisite border infrastructure for faster mobility of its troops and weapon systems in forward areas.India in the later-1990s did junk its defensive mindset prevalent since the 1962 war that held development of any infrastructure along the unresolved 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) would actually help Chinese troops make faster inroads into India during a conflict.But that change in outlook has not led to much concrete progress on the ground. Just 22-23 of the 73 "strategic" roads identified for construction almost two decades ago have been fully completed till now. All these 73 all-weather roads, with more east-west lateral links as well as better access routes to strategic peaks and valleys, were to be completed by 2012.More alarmingly, as per the national audit watchdog, some of the completed roads are so substandard that specialised military vehicles, artillery howitzers and multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) cannot use them.In its latest report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the CAG slammed the poor planning, tardy execution, contract mismanagement and financial irregularities dogging the construction of 61 (totalling 3,409-km) of the 73 roads (4,643-km) entrusted to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO)."The non-completion/faulty specifications of works have a serious bearing on the operational capability of the armed forces in strategically sensitive areas," said the CAG. Already Rs 4,536 crore out of the Rs 4,644 crore approved for the 61 roads has been spent but only 22 roads, with a total length of 707-km, have been constructed till now.Moreover, there are "numerous instances of defective construction" of roads. "Six roads (of the ones examined for the audit), with a length of 197-km, were not fit for running specialised vehicles/equipment such as the Bofors artillery gun, Smerch and Pinaka MLRS due to various limitations like steep gradients, less width, inadequate turning radius, defective alignment etc," said the CAG.In effect, while Indian troops with heavy equipment still have to trudge for miles to reach many of their forward posts along the LAC in the absence of road or rail connectivity, which could prove operationally disastrous during a conflict, the People's Liberation Army largely has metal roads and highways right till its border posts.As earlier reported by TOI, with over five fully-operational airbases, an extensive rail network & over 58,000-km of roads in Tibet Autonomous Region, China can swiftly move over 30 divisions (each with over 15,000 soldiers) to the LAC to outnumber Indian forces by 3:1 there.The government, on its part, says the road construction pace will now pick up with the BRO undergoing a revamp under the defence ministry (it was earlier part of the road transport ministry), and being progressively equipped more manpower, equipment and specialised machinery. "There are also faster clearances for land acquisition and environmental clearances now. Tunneling is also being considered for better road connectivity," said an official.