What happened
The Ministry of Defence said that Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh highlighted the strategic importance of border infrastructure at the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Strategic Infrastructure Conclave in New Delhi on 16 July 2026. He argued that ports, airfields, roads, and tunnels will remain indispensable even as modern weapons and precision systems become central to warfare.
The speech placed the Border Roads Organisation at the centre of strategic connectivity. The Raksha Mantri said that the first front of a war can be the road leading soldiers to the frontline, and he described the road builder as a guardian of national security.
Background and earlier position
The BRO has spent more than six and a half decades building roads and related infrastructure in border and high-altitude regions. The Ministry of Defence statement presented the organisation as having evolved from a road construction agency into a strategic infrastructure organisation.
The Ministry of Defence statement referred to Atal Tunnel, Umling La Pass, and Sela Tunnel as examples of the BRO’s capability in difficult terrain.
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