Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday alleged that successive non BJP governments at the Centre did not consider people living in the border areas as mainstream citizens of the country.

He said the present Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was committed to the development of border areas of the country.

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Without naming the Congress or any other previous Opposition government, the Union minister said, “Contrary to the myopic vision of the past governments border areas are no longer buffer zones for us but part of mainstream India.”

Singh further said, “There was a time when infrastructure development in the border areas was not a priority. Past governments worked with the idea that only people in the plains were mainstream citizens. They were worried that development on the borders could be exploited by the enemies. Due to their parochial views, developmental programmes failed to reach border areas.”

He claimed that this had changed today. “Our government is committed to the development of border areas with due care for security needs of the country in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he added.

The defence minister said that Central government needs the support of all the agencies and the people to protect India’s borders and environment. “We are getting support for our endavour from everyone. Timely completion of projects has been possible due to the commitment of the Border Road Organization (BRO). Our agencies are working with utmost care for environment and national security along with peoples’ welfare. People in the border areas have also stood solidly behind the government” said Singh.

Rajnath Singh was in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath Dhak Indo-China border area of the Chamoli district to inaugurate 35 interstate infrastructure development projects newly completed by the BRO at the cost of Rs 670 crore. The projects included six roads and 29 bridges in seven Himalayan states having international borders mainly with China amd Pakistan. Three of the inaugurated bridges and one road belong to Uttarakhand, 10 bridges were constructed in Jammu and Kashmir while Ladhak got three roads and six bridges, one  bridge each were completed in Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram while two roads were built in Sikkim and eight bridges were in Arunachal Pradesh.