India not to abandon construction project in Afghanistan 24.11.2005 NEW DELHI, NOV 23 (PTI) - Notwithstanding the "outrageous" and "barbaric" abduction and killing of a BRO driver in Afghanistan, India today said work on the highway project where its nationals were involved was "still in progress". "At the moment the work on the highway is still on", a top Defence Ministry official said indicating that a "reappraisal of security arrangements for over 300 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel working on the project was being worked out". The BRO Director General Lt Gen K S Rao may go to Afghanistan to review the security umbrella for the project with Afghan authorities, he said after the body of M R Kutty was found with his throat slashed in Delaram district of Nimroz province in Southern Afghanistan. The official made it clear that work on "isolated points" on the highway which would link Delaram on the Makran coast in Iran with Afghan heartland of Kanadhar via Herat had been temporarily suspended pending a security reappraisal. The official said the formation cutting of the highway of the project estimated to cost Rs 380 crore had been completed and work was in progress for surface laying. Referring to the killing, the official said a decision on flying back Kutty's body would be taken by tomorrow depending upon on its condition. He said that Afghan authorities had been approached for providing additional security cover for the personnel working on the project. Kutty had been working with BRO for 12 years and had shifted to Afghanistan project only on November nine, he said. Giving details about the tragic incident, the official said around 1300 hrs local time on November 19, Kutty along with three others was going from Gurguri to Minar in Nimroz province when their van was intercepted. When they did not not reach Nimroz by 1700 hrs, security patrols were sent to trace them. "At the same time, the security Chief of the Nimroz informed that an unidentified person claiming to be from Taliban had claimed that the Indian had been kidnapped". Subsequently, an Afghan driver was released and the fate of two others travelling in the van is still not known, he said. Asked about the progress of the project, the official said the Cabinet Comittee on security had cleared the project on February 4, 2004 and so far one fourth of the project had been completed. Initially, local Afghan warlords had worked out security arrangements for the project, but with the disbanding of the private armies, Afghan security organisation had taken over the security of the project, he said. << | >> |
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