As we read this in the comforts of our chair, somewhere outside in the extreme and isolated Indian side of the Himalayas there are two kinds of people working day and night to ensure its continuous accessibility.
Working for the BRO (Border Roads Organisation) - an engineering entity - this insurgency infested and naturally hazardous terrain has experts and soldiers deputed from the Indian Army and the GREF (General Reserve Engineer Force). This Wikipedia link would tell more. Their perpetual task - maintenance and construction of roads, bridges, communication towers, electricity and other structures.
Dodging the more than frequent landslides, which happen anywhere anytime, these men in service to their nation work along with the another unsung and lesser appreciated group – the temporarily contracted labourers from eastern part of tribal Jharkhand, Nepal, and the local Mistris (artisans). Google search many a times will yield interesting information on the issues related to these workers; one such link is here. Also, I am sure, through the huge Google there will be a buried page on adolescent labour which either goes unnoticed, or may I allege, deliberately ignored. Otherwise, the labour scene along these border roads is lesser pitiful if one wants to compare it with the South Asians in the Middle East. In their own country, these men at least have an air of freedom and a larger ownership.
BRO has to protect the country’s borders, which its men will at any cost; even if they are badly under resourced. The job, evidently tough, is always done because the stake and spirits both are high. Serious thoughts are needed, which basically for starters, is only a matter of equipping these two groups of men with better technologies; one- to build better performing structures and second, to beat the cold.
Until then, these BRO creative road signs on these border roads, basically safety messages (link to a travel blog, by painted stork), inspired by the present life saviors rum or whiskey get undeniably witty.
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