Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar unveils BRO manual on Vigilance Awareness Week

Key highlights:

·               Manual ‘सीमान्त रेखा-The Borderline’ contains key Govt policy guidelines, CVC guidelines, CCS (CCA) Rules & Army Act/Rules

·               Manual to enhance professional efficiency and promulgate adherence of higher ethos: Defence Secretary

·               BRO Manual is in line with CVC observing ‘Independent India @ 75: Self Reliance with Integrity’

Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar unveiled Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Discipline and Vigilance Manual ‘सीमान्त रेखा-The Borderline’ on the occasion ‘Vigilance Awareness Week’ (VAW) in New Delhi on November 01, 2021. Part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations, the key policy guidelines of the Manual include Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines, Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules – CCS (CCA) Rules and Army Act/Rules relevant to BRO.

Speaking on the occasion, the Defence Secretary congratulated BRO for its meticulous and professional effort in publishing the Manual which highlights the need of a transparent & corruption-free organisation and said, it will go a long way in understanding and guiding the BRO to understand the nuances of discipline & vigilance to ensure a ‘Corruption-Free System’. He lauded BRO and said, it has adopted Government E-Marketplace (GeM) in a big way and this year it was awarded among the best organisations in the Ministry of Defence for adopting GeM.

Speaking about transparency efforts, Dr Ajay Kumar said, “BRO has also started online payment for its vendors and it is one of the first organisations within MoD who have made this process. But above all I want to emphasise that these efforts reflect the change in mindset of the leadership and the officers which will go a long way in ensuring that BRO is more transparent, more efficient, more corruption-free and will be a model for other organisations in the MoD and Government as a whole.”

The CVC has decided to observe the Vigilance Awareness Week on the theme ‘Independent India @ 75: Self Reliance with Integrity’. The largest road construction agency in India, the BRO, is obligated to the novel vision of the CVC and committed for connecting people through corrupt-free structures. In the process, the BRO has devised a number of stringent but lasting preventive & punitive mechanisms towards trust building by means of empowering discipline & vigilance.

Being a hybrid construction force, the discipline and vigilance cases of BRO are unique and distinct from other construction agencies. The Manual is an initiative of Director General Border Roads (DG BR) to demarcate well-defined border lines in the dealings of distinct rules applicable to General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) and Military Personnel and fast disposal of justice.

The manual stands out for the reasons of nourishing and achieving ‘common proceedings’ at every level in the conduct of composite cases without compromising any of the applicable statutory provisions. In a nut shell, it is a ready reckoner and has the potential to undertake all the functional needs of BRO and the CVO who is dealing with these cases.

The Vigilance Awareness Week platform rendered by the CVC has witnessed many initiatives by the BRO. The five-day long programme has ensured integrity pledge by all the karmyogis, vendors brainstorming on integrity pact, debate on ‘India@75: Self Reliance with Integrity’ at all levels, seminar on ‘Corruption free BRO’ and webinar in coordination with all the Project Vigilance Officers.

Director General Border Roads Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry and other senior civil & military officials of Ministry of Defence were present during the release of the Manual.