Women may lead BRO projects along border
NEW DELHI: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) plans to create four women-led road construction companies (RCC) to handle projects in forward areas along the India-China border, officials familiar with the development said on Sunday. Two women-led RCCs each will come up in the western and the north-eastern sectors, the defence ministry said in a statement.
The announcement comes weeks after BRO appointed a woman officer, Major Aaina Rana, as the commanding officer of the 75 RCC at Pipalkoti in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli. She will be responsible for providing forward connectivity along the India-China border. Rana’s RCC is the BRO’s first women-led RCC as all three platoon commanders under her are women engineers.
“As India celebrates 75 years of Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, it also celebrates the ongoing efforts of our nation towards women empowerment…By empowering them with the tools of authority, responsibility and respect, BRO firmly believes that women will always be active participants in the endeavour of nation building,” the statement said.
In April, BRO’s Vaishali S Hiwase took over as the first woman commanding officer of an RCC responsible for providing forward connectivity along the India-China border in the northern sector.
BRO is building strategic roads in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim and plans to complete all 61 strategic roads along the China border by December 2022 to allow swifter mobilisation of troops and stores to forward areas.
The move to create women-led RCCs comes at a time when new avenues are being opened for women in the armed forces and those wanting to join the armed forces.
Last month, the Indian Army promoted five women officers to the time-scale rank of colonel after the completion of the mandatory 26 years of service. That was the first time that women officers were promoted to the rank outside the medical, legal and education wings of the army.
The development came 18 months after the Supreme Court ruled that women officers, who joined the Indian Army through short service commission (SSC), were entitled to permanent commission and command roles.
The doors of the of the National Defence Academy (NDA), thus far a male preserve, are also being opened to women. Women were allowed to serve in select branches of the three services as SSC officers almost three decades ago. The headcount of women in the military has increased almost threefold over the last six years, with more avenues being opened to them at a steady pace. As of February 2021, there were 9,118 women serving in the army, navy and air force.
One of the turning points for women in the military came in 2015 when the Indian Air Force decided to induct them into the fighter stream. Women are now being assigned to warships too, but tanks and combat positions in infantry are still no-go zones for them.