Year-End Deadline Set For BRO To Complete 20 Roads Along LAC As Standoff With China Looks Increasingly Irreversible

The Government of India has set a year-end deadline for the completion of 20 strategic roads in Ladakh and the North East.

The alignment of all these strategic roads is along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

This comes after the ongoing three-year-long standoff with the Chinese which started after the clashes at Pangong Tso and Galwan in May and June 2020 in Eastern Ladakh, looks irreversible.

It appears that the Chinese are not inclined to restore the status quo and return to the pre-2020 situation, judged by the fact that 18th round of corps commander talks, multiple meetings with foreign and defence ministers of both countries failed to resolve the deadlock.

The critical roads under construction include a road to provide alternate connectivity to the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) airfield located on the Depsang Plains in the strategic subsector north (SSN) and the realignment work on the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DS-DBO) road.

Other priority projects include the 64 km long Sumdo-Nidder-Rhongo road, the 62 km long Chumathang-Chushul road, and the 83 km long Hanle-Zursar-Imis La.

Among the northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh has half a dozen road projects on the list in the upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

This includes a road to link up Tulung La pass and to Dametang (site of holy waterfalls). The rest of the roads are for filling the gaps of the Trans-Arunachal Highway.

All these projects are under construction by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) which has constructed majority of the projects in border areas along the LAC.

These roads will deter the Chinese from conducting any hostile activity and will allow the Indian Army soldiers to mobilise fast, to any crisis points in an event of hostility.