Border Roads Organisation (BRO): GREF, Field Projects and Himalayan Tunnels

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is the Ministry of Defence agency that builds and maintains the roads and tunnels India’s armed forces rely on in the border areas, and it does the same work in friendly neighboring countries. It was raised on 7 May 1960, before the war with China, and by October 1962 its first project had a jeepable road nearly ready up to Tawang. The border roads organisation now counts over 64,000 km of roads to its name, and those roads serve two users at once: the soldier at a forward post and the villager who lives along the way.

Most readers carry one of two pictures of BRO: a wing of the Army, or a government road contractor that happens to work in the mountains. Both are half right. BRO answers to the Ministry of Defence and draws its senior officers from the Army’s Corps of Engineers, but its other pillar is a cadre of its own, the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), whose members the Supreme Court has held to be part of the Armed Forces for the purposes of Article 33. This note settles what BRO actually is and why its record on deadlines is more mixed than the tunnel headlines suggest.

What Is the Border Roads Organisation?

BRO is the government’s builder in border and hard-to-reach areas, and its brief goes beyond roads to the bridges and tunnels those roads need and the airfields at their far end. It works first for the Army and then for other ministries, through named field projects headed by the Director General Border Roads (DGBR), as BRO’s own site sets out.

The build count comes from PIB’s January 2026 backgrounder, while BRO’s website still shows an older 62,906 km, so a figure should always travel with its source and date.

Why Was BRO Raised in 1960?

BRO was raised to give the Army roads on a frontier that had few of them, and the government moved fast. The Supreme Court’s 1983 judgment in R. Viswan v. Union of India, read with BRO’s own history, puts the first months in order:

• 9 April 1960: the Defence Ministry created posts at Army Headquarters for border road work.
• 18 April 1960: it sanctioned the post of Director General Border Roads, in the rank of Major General.
• 7 May 1960: the organization was raised, the date BRO marks as its Raising Day.
• 16 June 1960: the President’s sanction to raise the General Reserve Engineer Force was conveyed.
• 23 September 1960: notifications SRO 329 and 330 applied parts of the Army Act, 1950 to GREF.

The detail most people get wrong is the order. BRO isn’t a child of the 1962 war; it came two years earlier, which is why it already had a road under way towards Tawang when the war began.

A board under the Prime Minister

The organization began inside the Army’s works directorate and was then placed under the Border Roads Development Board (BRDB), a self-contained authority chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Defence Minister as deputy chairman. The court notes that the Board’s budget formed part of the budget of the Ministry of Shipping and Transport.

From the start, then, BRO worked to the Army’s plans while its money came through a transport ministry.

The first projects

BRO began with Tusker in the east, now Vartak, and Beacon in the north. Vartak, first raised as Project NEFA under Brig O.M. Mani, took the Bhalukpong-Tenga axis in Arunachal Pradesh, and three more Arunachal projects were later carved out of it. Dantak followed in April 1961 at Deothang in Bhutan, and Himank was raised at Leh on 4 December 1985 for the roads of Ladakh.

Two ministries, then one

Since 2015-16, PIB’s backgrounder says, BRO has functioned fully under the Ministry of Defence; before that it was partly under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. BRO’s own FAQ gives the year as 2015. One ministry now sets the priorities and signs off the money, and it followed with the reforms covered below.

Who Works in BRO?

BRO stands on two pillars, in the government’s words: Army engineer officers and the General Reserve Engineer Force, supported by other civilian staff and Casual Paid Labourers (CPLs). GREF is BRO’s own cadre, recruited and trained at the GREF Centre, which began at Roorkee on 1 April 1962 and moved to Dighi Camp, Pune in 1976. The Centre’s records show about 28,782 men in 65 categories.

The chain of command follows the Army pattern:

• DGBR: a Lieutenant General from the Corps of Engineers. Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan became the 28th DGBR on 30 September 2023, and PIB named Lt Gen Harpal Singh as DGBR in March 2026.
• Three ADGBRs: Additional Directors General, one at HQ DGBR and two for the north-western and eastern sectors.
• Chief Engineers: they run the field projects.
• Task Forces: the working units, written BRTF, as in 753 BRTF, the unit Guinness credits for the Umling La road.

The top post has grown with the job: sanctioned in 1960 for a Major General, it’s now held by a Lieutenant General.

Is GREF part of the Armed Forces?

For discipline, yes. Article 33 lets Parliament restrict the fundamental rights of members of the Armed Forces and of forces that keep public order, so that discipline holds; in daily terms, a soldier can’t join a trade union the way a factory worker can. The 1960 notifications extended section 21 of the Army Act, which carries such limits, to GREF.

GREF employees challenged this. On 6 May 1983 a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, in a judgment written by Justice P.N. Bhagwati, held in R. Viswan that GREF is an integral part of the Armed Forces. It pointed to three features:

• GREF is organized on the Army pattern, with units, sub-units and ranks;
• Army officers are posted into its units so that it can support the Army in war;
• its main work was for the Army’s General Staff, with work for other ministries averaging no more than 15 percent.

The court accepted that GREF members also come under civil service rules. That’s the whole lesson: being partly civilian doesn’t take a force outside Article 33, and how closely it’s woven into the Armed Forces decides the question.

What Does BRO Build, and Where?

BRO’s charter, as its website states it, has two roles. It is the road-building arm of a larger border system of fences and guarding forces, which the note on border management lays out.

• In peace: develop and maintain the Army’s operational roads in the border areas and add to the development of the border states.
• In war: keep roads open where forces are deployed or redeployed, and take on extra tasks the government sets.

The Army calls these operational routes GS roads, short for General Staff roads. Between 2020-21 and 2024-25 the Defence Ministry gave BRO about Rs 23,625 crore for them, which built around 4,595 km of roads in forward areas. That’s roughly 2.5 km of new forward road a day for five years, in terrain with a limited working season.

Its 18 field projects are easier to remember by region, using PIB’s grouping:

• Arunachal Pradesh: Vartak, Arunank, Udayak and Brahmank.
• Ladakh and its approaches: Himank, Beacon, Deepak, Vijayak and Yojak.
• Rest of the Northeast: Swastik in Sikkim, Pushpak in Mizoram, Setuk in Assam and Meghalaya, Sewak in Nagaland and Manipur.
• Western border: Sampark in Jammu and Chetak in Rajasthan.
• Beyond the frontier belt: Shivalik on the Char Dham routes of Uttarakhand and Hirak in the Left Wing Extremism areas of Chhattisgarh.
• Abroad: Dantak in Bhutan.

BRO also builds for other ministries, from Home Affairs to External Affairs. In March 2026 the Defence Minister told Parliament’s consultative committee that BRO has been entrusted with infrastructure along about 1,600 km of the India-Myanmar border, which the Assam Rifles guard.

Projects abroad

BRO’s work abroad doubles as diplomacy:

• Bhutan: Project Dantak (April 1961) has built about 1,650 km of blacktopped roads and Paro, Bhutan’s only international airport; it records more than 1,200 of its people killed in the work.
• Myanmar: the 160 km India-Myanmar Friendship Road, inaugurated in 2001, runs from Moreh to Tamu and Kalewa.
• Afghanistan: the 218 km Delaram-Zaranj Highway gave Afghanistan a road to Iran and the port of Chabahar.
• Tajikistan: BRO carried out reconstruction at the Farkhor and Ayni air bases.

The wider pattern is mapped in the note on India’s development projects abroad.

Which Landmark Works Has BRO Built?

BRO’s best-known works keep Himalayan routes open when snow shuts the passes above them. A pass is the lowest gap in a ridge, so a road over it takes the worst of the snow; a tunnel goes under the ridge instead.

The Atal Tunnel shows what that trade buys. The Lahaul valley used to be cut off for about six months a year. The 9.02 km tunnel under the Rohtang Pass, dedicated on 3 October 2020, keeps it connected all year and cuts the Manali-Leh road by 46 km and about 4 to 5 hours; the site’s note on the Atal Tunnel has the rest.

The Shyok Tunnel is a cut-and-cover tunnel: engineers dig a trench, build the tunnel inside it and cover it over, rather than boring through rock.

Two cautions keep the records straight. A road record and a tunnel record differ: Mig La holds the road record at 19,400 ft, while Shinku La, at about 15,800 ft, will be the highest tunnel when finished. And the Umling La height depends on the source. PIB’s release of 4 August 2021 said 19,300 ft, while Guinness certified 5,798.251 m, or 19,024 ft, the figure Akashvani used in 2025. Either way it sits well above Khardung La, which the same release put at 17,582 ft.

If those numbers have confused you, it’s because the sources disagree, not because you misread them. Carry a height with its source and its year.

Why Has BRO Missed Deadlines, and What Changed?

BRO’s record on speed is mixed, and official documents say so. The clearest test is the India-China Border Roads (ICBRs):

• 73 roads were identified, and 61 of them, 3,417.50 km in all, went to BRO, with 2012 as the first deadline.
• By March 2018, a Rajya Sabha answer showed, 28 of the 61 were complete.
• In February 2019 the Standing Committee on Defence reported that the deadline had moved to 2022.

That committee, chaired by Kalraj Mishra, reported on 11 February 2019 that BRO hadn’t met its construction targets since 2007-08. Two of its reasons, land and clearances, were still on the DGBR’s list of challenges in March 2026:

• land acquisition, with 593 land compensation cases pending in courts;
• wildlife clearances taking 3 to 7 years on average;
• equipment below authorized levels, with tippers 50 percent short in 2016-17;
• staff leaving over harsh postings and poor facilities for families.

The fixes came in steps:

• 2015-16: BRO came fully under the Ministry of Defence.
• August 2017: a Chief Engineer’s power to approve works rose from Rs 10 crore to Rs 50 crore.
• May 2020: following the Committee of Experts under Lt Gen D.B. Shekatkar (Retd), work beyond BRO’s capacity is outsourced and the EPC mode, a single contract for design, procurement and construction, is mandatory above Rs 100 crore.
• Clearances first: such works are awarded only when 90 percent of statutory clearances are in hand.
• Equipment: BRO’s procurement powers rose from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 100 crore.

Two readings of this record go too far. One says BRO is slow and the work should simply go to contractors; the other says the mountains excuse every delay. BRO names departmental execution, building with its own people and machines, as its edge over other agencies, and the 2020 reform kept that while outsourcing the rest. It is wise to judge BRO on both counts: new roads built and old ones kept open. Zoji La, for instance, reopened on 1 April 2025 after a winter closure of just 32 days.

BRO Today: Budget, Output and the Vibrant Villages Link

BRO is spending more than ever and is being handed more of the border:

• Budget: capital allocation of Rs 6,500 crore in 2024-25, 30 percent above 2023-24, rising to Rs 7,146 crore in 2025-26 and Rs 7,394 crore in 2026-27.
• Spending: a record Rs 16,690 crore in 2024-25, with Rs 17,900 crore targeted for 2025-26.
• Output: on 7 December 2025 the Defence Minister dedicated 125 BRO projects at once, the most ever, from the Shyok Tunnel, at about Rs 5,000 crore.
• Pipeline: over 1,000 projects are under way in the Border Roads Development Programme 2023-28, the ministry said in March 2026.
• Digital turn: on 16 July 2026, at BRO’s Strategic Infrastructure Conclave, the Defence Minister launched platforms for project management and recruitment.

Read the money with care. PIB doesn’t explain the gap between Rs 6,500 crore allocated and Rs 16,690 crore spent in 2024-25, but BRO builds for several ministries and its GS roads have their own Defence funding, so the two figures aren’t the same money. Counts need care too: PIB’s January 2026 backgrounder gives 250 projects dedicated in 2024 and 2025 in its summary box and 356 in its text, and the Ministry’s Year-End Review for 2025 says 356.

The site’s report on BRO’s 125-project launch covers that December day.

Where BRO meets the Vibrant Villages Programme

The Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) is a Home Ministry scheme, not a BRO one:

• VVP-I: approved on 15 February 2023 for 46 blocks along the northern border, with Rs 4,800 crore for 2022-23 to 2025-26.
• VVP-II: approved in April 2025 as a fully Centre-funded scheme of Rs 6,839 crore up to 2028-29, for villages along the other land borders.
• Roads: the Cabinet decided that all-weather roads to VVP-II villages will come under PMGSY-IV, the Rural Development Ministry’s scheme.

So BRO builds the strategic trunk roads and tunnels, while village roads come, for VVP-II at least, from a rural-roads scheme. The link is one of purpose: PIB places BRO’s work under initiatives including Vibrant Villages, and in July 2026 the Defence Minister spoke of turning the ‘last villages’ into the ‘first villages’. The site’s VVP-II explainer covers the scheme.

How to Study the Border Roads Organisation for Exams

BRO sits in GS Paper III, under security challenges and their management in border areas and under infrastructure; its projects abroad also serve GS Paper II answers on the neighborhood.

No Mains question in the site’s archive names BRO. They ask about border management and border infrastructure, and BRO supplies the examples. Mains 2016 GS Paper III asked, “Border management is a complex task due to difficult terrain and hostile relations with some countries. Elucidate the challenges and strategies for effective border management.” Mains 2026 GS Paper III asked candidates to “Discuss how the contradiction between ‘rapid infrastructure development’ and ‘disaster-risk reduction’ in ecologically-sensitive areas of India can be managed, with suitable examples.” BRO’s Himalayan roads and tunnels answer both.

Revise these:

• 7 May 1960: BRO raised, under a Border Roads Development Board chaired by the Prime Minister.
• 2015-16: fully under the Ministry of Defence.
• Twin pillars: Army engineer officers and GREF, under a Lieutenant General as DGBR.
• R. Viswan (1983): GREF is part of the Armed Forces for Article 33.
• Tunnels: Atal Tunnel 9.02 km (2020); Sela Tunnel at 13,000 ft (2024).
• Road record: Mig La at 19,400 ft (2025), above Umling La (2021).
• Money: Rs 7,394 crore capital allocation in 2026-27; a record Rs 16,690 crore spent in 2024-25.

The common mix-ups:

• BRO and BRDB: the Board was the 1960 authority above the organization.
• Sela Tunnel and Sela Pass: the tunnel bypasses the pass.
• Shinku La and Shyok: Shinku La is under construction on the Nimu-Padum-Darcha road; Shyok is a finished 920 m tunnel on the road to Daulat Beg Oldie.
• GREF and the CAPFs: GREF builds under Defence; the CAPFs guard under Home Affairs.
• BRO and VVP: BRO’s trunk roads are a Defence job, while VVP-II village roads come under PMGSY-IV.

The sibling comparison worth drawing is with the forces on the same frontiers:

BRO is where border policy stops being a line on a map and becomes a road someone has to build and keep open. Learn it as a chain that runs from the ministry that pays for a road to the force that patrols where it ends, and your border-management answers will carry evidence instead of adjectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice Questions

Prelims

1. Consider the following statements about the Border Roads Organisation (BRO): 1. It was raised in 1960 under a Border Roads Development Board chaired by the Prime Minister. 2. It has functioned fully under the Ministry of Home Affairs since 2015-16. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 only
• (b) 2 only
• (c) Both 1 and 2
• (d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (a) BRO has been fully under the Ministry of Defence, not Home Affairs, since 2015-16.

2. Consider the following statements about the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF): 1. Parts of the Army Act, 1950 were applied to its members by notifications issued in 1960. 2. In R. Viswan v. Union of India (1983), the Supreme Court held it to be an integral part of the Armed Forces for the purposes of Article 33. 3. Its recruits are trained at the GREF Centre in Pune. Which of the statements given above are correct?

• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1 and 3 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (d) SRO 329 and 330 of 1960 applied the Army Act provisions, the 1983 judgment upheld them and the GREF Centre is at Dighi Camp, Pune.

3. Project Dantak of the Border Roads Organisation works in which country?

• (a) Myanmar
• (b) Bhutan
• (c) Afghanistan
• (d) Tajikistan

Answer: (b) Dantak was raised in April 1961 and has built roads and the Paro airport in Bhutan.

4. Consider the following pairs of tunnel and State or Union Territory: 1. Atal Tunnel : Himachal Pradesh 2. Sela Tunnel : Sikkim 3. Shyok Tunnel : Ladakh. How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

• (a) Only one
• (b) Only two
• (c) All three
• (d) None

Answer: (b) The Sela Tunnel is in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, not in Sikkim.

5. Which one of the following gives the correct descending order of altitude? 1. Mig La road 2. Umling La road 3. Khardung La 4. Sela Tunnel

• (a) 1-2-3-4
• (b) 2-1-3-4
• (c) 1-3-2-4
• (d) 2-3-1-4

Answer: (a) Mig La (19,400 ft) is above Umling La (19,024 to 19,300 ft), which is above Khardung La (17,582 ft) and the Sela Tunnel (13,000 ft).

Mains

1. India has a long and troubled border with China and Pakistan fraught with contentious issues. Examine the conflicting issues and security challenges along the border. Also give out the development being undertaken in these areas under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) and Border Infrastructure and Management (BIM) Scheme. (15 marks, 250 words) Previous year: Mains 2024, GS Paper III.
2. “Road connectivity on the northern border is as much a problem of institutions as of engineering.” Examine the statement with reference to the Border Roads Organisation. (15 marks, 250 words)
3. How have the Atal and Sela tunnels changed the logistics of holding the Line of Actual Control? Discuss with reference to seasonal access. (10 marks, 150 words)
4. The Border Roads Organisation builds strategic roads, while the Vibrant Villages Programme depends on roads that reach people. Suggest how the two can be made to work together. (10 marks, 150 words)
5. Critically evaluate the Border Roads Organisation’s projects in Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan as instruments of India’s neighborhood policy. (15 marks, 250 words)

PDF