India is not allowing the border confrontation and conflicts with China to hinder strategic road project developments in forward areas, including in the Ladakh sector, where soldiers of the two nations are at an  eyeball-to-eyeball standoff at four locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). GOI has started working on two key road projects near the China border in eastern Ladakh, the site of a tense weeks-long border stand-off with its northern neighbour to provide connectivity to an important forward area that the military calls Sub-Sector North (SSN) since the month of May.

While the first is the strategic Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DS-DBO) road that provides connectivity to the country’s northern-most outpost, Daulat Beg Oldi, the second road being built from Sasoma to Saser La could eventually provide an alternative route to DBO near the Karakoram pass. Both projects are being executed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which is ferrying 11,815 workers to areas near the China border in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for building strategic roads.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on October 12, 2020 had virtually inaugurated 44 bridges in the country including eight strategic bridges in Ladakh only. In addition to this, the construction of 45 more bridges in Ladakh will be completed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in the next 2 years. The 44 bridges were constructed by BRO and were inaugurated last month. These were spread over seven states/union territories. BRO has completed eight bridges in both Kargil and Leh on four strategically important roads close to the Line of Control (LOC) and Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.

Out of  the eight bridges which were opened, three bridges have been completed on Zozila-Kargil-Leh road, two on Khalsar-Sasoma road and one each on Sanku-Kunore-Sapila-Mulbek road, Nimmu-Padam-Darcha (NPD) road and Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DS-DBO) road. The NPD road is being developed as an alternative axis to Leh from Manali through Zanskar.

Lt Gen Harpal Singh, DG BRO has already informed that the 44 bridges of various spans ranging from 30 metres to 484 metres are located in Jammu and Kashmir (10), Ladakh (8), Himachal Pradesh (2), Punjab (4), Uttarakhand (8), Arunachal Pradesh (8) and Sikkim (4) and the cost incurred for building these bridges was Rs 286 crore according to the government sources. On the other hand 102 more major permanent bridges are going to be completed in this financial year.

As per data with MOD, in Jammu and Kashmir, infrastructure work worth Rs 1,144 crore was undertaken by BRO in this financial year, up by 45 percent from Rs 788 crore two years ago. Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim are the other states that saw substantial increase in the border infrastructure development in the last two years. While Uttarakhand saw the biggest jump of 174 per cent in border infrastructure work from Rs 534 crore two years ago to Rs 1,463 crore in the current financial year, Arunachal Pradesh saw a jump of 104 percent from Rs 843 crore to Rs 1,716 crore.

The Nimu-Padum-Darcha (NPD) highway, a game-changer for the Army as the shortest, safest route to Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh, is being built with the help of Zanskar Valley’s students. Border Roads Organization (BRO) had to use them when it ran short of labour because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nearly close to 1,000 locals work on the NPD highway and most of them are students. There are not many jobs in the region and this highway brings both employment and the hope of connecting many remote villages.

Former director-general of military operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia (Retd) explained that infrastructure is critical to India’s border management and defence. He added, “China, for instance, follows a ‘three R’ strategy- Roads, Radars and Reserves. They have the early warning so that they can react well”. He further added, “Good infrastructure will not only help the military take proactive steps but also pre-emptive action when needed.”

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.