BRO reopens alternative road link to Kargil three months early

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 4

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has started reopening an alternative road link to Kargil in Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh that lies over a high snow-bound pass about three months earlier than usual this year.

The road passes over the 16,700-ft-high Shinku La Pass that connects Lahaul region of Himachal with Zanskar region to the north. The road branches off from the Manali-Leh Highway at Darcha, about 30 kilometres ahead of Keylong and joins up with Padum on the other side. This road then proceeds to Kargil.

The 70 Road Construction Company of the BRO is undertaking the snow-clearance work. “This is for the first time that we have started clearing snow on this route in March. Earlier, this work used to begin only in May or June,” a BRO officer said.

At present, there is 6-7 feet of snow on the road, though in some pockets that had experienced avalanches in the winters the snow depth is up to 15 feet, BRO sources said. Snow is present at Shinku La, also known as Shingo La, even in summers due to its altitude and remoteness.

Till last year, the route over the pass was just a trekking trail. The BRO is undertaking widening and blacktopping of the route to make it suitable for vehicular traffic and light civilian vehicles were allowed to ply on this route last summer, not only bringing enormous socio-economic benefits to the local inhabitants of the region but also having strategic significance as far as border communication is concerned.

The Darcha-Padum link provides the strategically important town of Kargil a third axis of approach, the other two being via Jammu-Srinagar and Manali-Leh.