New Delhi: As the arm of a giant excavator perched precariously on the mountain slope drills a hole into the mountainside at an altitude of almost 17,000 feet, officer commanding, Road Construction company, Lt Col Ajay Chauhan says a silent prayer.
This is a zero error exercise as a tiny mistake could send the 20-tonne machine hurtling down into the raging Shyok river 50 feet below.
Engineers of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are racing against time to make an all-weather blacktop road to quickly move men and material from Leh to Daulat Beg Oldie at the base of the mighty Karakoram Mountain at an altitude of 16,696 feet.
“This is an extremely risky task. There are always chances of an accident. The operators risk their lives. But we are preparing an alternate axis with a gentler gradient so that heavy trucks and equipment can be moved quickly between Durbuk and Daulat Beg Oldie,” says Lt Col Chauhan.
The Army has declared the 255 kilometre-long Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie road its top priority for completion. The road starts at Durbuk at an altitude of a little over 14,000 feet and snakes along the Shyok river before climbing up to 18,000 feet near DBO.
“DS-DBO road runs parallel to the LAC and connects the DBO Advanced Landing Ground to Durbuk. We are constructing 37 all-weather bridges on the road to enable quick movement of men and material anywhere along the LAC. Earlier, it took almost seven days from Leh to DBO without proper roads, now it takes just about a day,” says Lt Gen Harpal Singh, Director General of the Border Roads Organisation.
“Our aim is to complete our task before the onset of winters. We did not let the ongoing tension between India and China at the LAC affect our road construction activity,” Lt Gen Singh said.
The China Study Group has identified 73 strategic roads and labelled them as India-China Border Roads. The BRO is to construct 61 of these 73 roads totalling a distance of 3,409 km. The 255 km-long DS-DBO road has been identified as one of the most crucial of these roads.
Given the current India-China standoff, India refuses to buckle under pressure and is pressing ahead with completing the road and several other roads to enable better patrolling and protection of our territory. “We have also imported the latest machines from Europe to pulverise cement and rock together and make cement-based roads. They are quick to construct and relatively easy to maintain. We will lay a layer of blacktop on this for a smooth ride,” says Col Deepak Baskandi, the Task Force Commander.
The Army is using the latest equipment and technology to construct roads in the area. Techniques to build runways and airports are being used for speedy road construction. But the challenges for the BRO and Army are as high as the Karakoram ranges.
“The biggest challenge will be to keep the strategic road open through the winters, especially at high mountain passes. More men and material are being brought in to ensure the roads are kept open till as late as possible,” Brig Singh adds.
For the BRO, the immediate task of constructing the road may be all but over but the engineers are now making alternate access to DBO. The bigger challenge will remain to keep the road operational 365 days a year.
