To expedite strategic road construction in Arunachal Pradesh and other Himalayan states bordering China and Pakistan, the Defence Ministry has asked the Border Roads Organisation, BRO to hire helicopters from private agencies to airlift material and equipment. <br/><br/>Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju gave the direction at a meeting of Border Roads Development Board in Itanagar last evening. <br/><br/>Mr Raju stressed the need to build infrastructure right up to the Chinese and Pakistani borders. The order came after BRO Director General Lieutenant General M C Badhani informed the meeting that IAF's capability to airlift material and equipment to remote places is extremely low, leading to delays in most border road works in Arunachal Pradesh beyond 2013. <br/><br/>Public sector chopper service Pawan Hans submitted an initial proposal to partially meet the BRO’s requirements in the North-East, but their pilots are not trained for hanging payloads for airdropping in inaccessible places lacking landing sites. <br/><br/>Mr Badhani said, over 75 per cent of BRO’s road construction projects are in high altitude areas and it is at present building 2,764 kilometers of the total 5,061 kilometers road in Arunachal Pradesh alone.