The three arms of the Indian military – the army, navy and air force – swoop in whenever there is a natural calamity to contend with. They are there to assist the civilian populace in many other ways as well; such as building bridges in record time. Now the army has constructed a bridge over the Indus river in a record time of just 40 days. It isn’t difficult to see why everyone was so impressed.
It has been named the Maitri Bridge or the Friendship Bridge. It is the longest suspension bridge over the Indus river. The Combat Engineers of the Fire & Fury Corps performed this feat in just 40 days.
The locals from surrounding areas of Choglamsar, Stok and Chuchot of Leh District also helped in building the bridge.
The Combat Engineers of the Sahas Aur Yogyata Regiment were tasked with the bridge construction which took about 500 tonnes of construction material and equipment.
Not only was the work carried out quickly and efficiently, it was done in cooperation with the local people. Naik Phunchok Angdus (retd), is an 89-year-old war veteran, who inaugurated the bridge along with other war veterans.
The Indian army is seen to be non-corrupt, efficient and disciplined whereas other government employees are seen to be inefficient, corrupt and lethargic. Civilians could learn from the army, feels this commentator
Many expressed the view that the army should be called in to assist in other bridge and infrastructure building exercises as well. This could ensure that the work was done quickly, efficiently and within budget while also taking care of the corruption that exists at the local contractor level.
While some felt that the army could be roped in to do more of this sort of work, others felt that this is not the job of the army at all. In a lot of cases, there is no urgency and there is little need to involve the army which has other onerous duties. If we had more efficient administrative services, there would be no need for the army to step in. Things being as they are, the army gets called upon to do a lot of things that are not their primary duties. It will continue to be this way for the foreseeable future, it would seem.
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