BRO connects strategic road connecting Manali to Leh, provides third axis

Leh, Mar 26 (PTI) The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has connected the 298-km strategic Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road in the Union Territory of Ladakh, an official said on Tuesday.

The road will connect Manali to Leh through Darcha and Nimmu on Kargil Leh national highway, providing a third axis apart from Manali-Leh and Srinagar-Leh which connect Ladakh to the hinterland, an official spokesman said.

He said the Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road derives its strategic importance from the fact that it is not only shorter vis-a-vis the other two axes, but crosses only one pass — Shinkun La (16,558 feet) — on which tunnel work by the BRO is about to start.

“This will result in the road having all-weather connectivity to the Ladakh region. The connectivity will strengthen the defence preparedness and provide a boost to the economic development in the Zanskar valley,” the spokesman said.

BRO Director General Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan said in January, when the River Zanskar was frozen, the equipment and personnel were mobilised and the work of establishing the connectivity was completed.

He exuded confidence that the work on black topping the road will start soon.

With the construction of the Shinkun La tunnel, the third all-weather axis to Ladakh will be established, he added.