(This was originally posted in Hindustan Times)
The Border Road Organisation’s (BRO) Vaishali S Hiwase has taken over as the first woman officer Commanding (OC) of a Road Construction Company (RCC) responsible for providing forward connectivity along the India-China border, officials familiar with the development said on Wednesday. She holds the rank of an executive engineer.
Vaishali will be discharging her duties in a challenging environment. “With two air- maintained detachments located at #10000ft and above, the alignment of road is going through some formidable passes and treacherous terrain of hard rock with vertical cliffs,” the BRO said on Twitter, giving the description of the work lying ahead for the woman officer.
Vaishali, who has an M Tech degree, is from Wardha in Maharashtra. She is taking over the new assignment as OCafter a successful stint in the Kargil sector, the officials said.
“This is a humble beginning by @BROindia that will usher a new era of #Women Empowerment that will see women officers taking over most arduous tasks. #History in making,” the BRO said in another tweet.
Last year, the BRO constructed key roads and tunnels in forwarding areas along the China border amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and the border standoff between India and China in the Ladakh sector.
BRO is building strategic roads in Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim. It plans to complete all 61 strategic roads assigned to it along the China border by December 2022 to allow swifter mobilization of troops and stores to forward areas.
