India readies new strategic road to reach Ladakh; third & shortest axis connecting Manali to Leh

New Delhi: Amidst the ongoing border conflict with China in eastern Ladakh, India has readied a new strategic road to Ladakh with the Border Roads Organisation operationalising the long awaited Nimmu-Padam-Darcha link, creating the shortest way to reach Leh from Manali.

The strategic 298-km road will connect Manali to Leh through Darcha and Nimmu on Kargil–Leh Highway. Apart from Manali-Leh and Srinagar-Leh, this will be the third axis to connect Ladakh to the hinterland.

Better, more accessibility

The Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road derives its strategic importance from two critical factors: it is shorter compared to the other two axes and crosses only one pass; Shinkun La (16,558 feet) on which tunnel work is about to commence by the BRO, says the defence ministry.

Once the tunnel is ready, this road link – made at a cost of nearly Rs 2300 crore - will provide all weather connectivity to the Ladakh region, not only to strengthen the defence preparedness, but also to boost the economic development in the Zanskar valley.

Ferrying logistics made easier

The new road is operationalised at a time when the Indian Army is in the fourth year of forward deployment along the Line of Actual Control.

With nearly 50,000 troops deployed in areas close to India’s disputed boundary with China, the new road, which is shielded from both India-China and India-Pakistan borders unlike the other two axes, can play a critical role in ferrying the logistics.

The construction began way back in 2002 when the defence forces felt the critical need to have multiple connectivity to Leh in the wake of the Kargil episode.

Long drawn process

But the project took over two decades to complete due to hard rock stretches, limited working seasons because of freezing temperature, limited availability of labour and limited access to Padam. The final connection was made on March 25.

Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan, BRO director general said when the Zanskar river was frozen in January, the equipment and personnel were mobilised to complete the connectivity. The work on black topping the road will start soon followed by construction of the Shinkun La tunnel.

In recent years New Delhi has stepped up in building border infrastructure in the eastern and western Himalayas. India’s highest mountain tunnel under Se La in Arunachal Pradesh was inaugurated earlier this month and a fighter airbase is under development at Nyoma in eastern Ladakh.

Between 2021-2023, the BRO completed 295 infrastructure projects worth Rs 8,000 crore. In 2022, 103 projects worth about Rs 2,900 crore were inaugurated while in 2021, 102 projects costing over Rs 2,200 crore have been made operational.