Why The NPD Road Third Axis To Leh Is Critical Against The China-Pakistan Threat In Ladakh

NPD Road, Ladakh: The Border Roads Organisation connected the strategic Nimu-Padam-Darcha (NPD) Road in Ladakh on March 25, 2024. This is an excerpt from our documentary series, ‘The Himalayan Frontier’ on our travel along the road. The road is the third axis to connect Ladakh to the plains. In this documentary, we explain the other two axes and why India’s infrastructural push in Eastern Ladakh is so crucial. The NPD Road is shielded from both the India-China border and the frontier with Pakistan, unlike the other two axes. Alternate axes are significant in also dealing with Pakistan’s second front in Siachen and from POJK. The NPD route provides critical connectivity for defence logistics to and for civilian development around the Northern China-occupied Tibet border or Line of Actual Control (LAC) As well as the Line of Control (LoC), and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Siachen with Pakistan.

A StratNews Global team of Amitabh P. Revi, Rohit Pandita, and Karan Marwaha travelled along the road, during the fourth winter of India’s forward deployment after Xi Jinping’s aggression that led to the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020 to bring you this on-the-ground report.

India Has Three Routes To Leh
Watch this excerpt of our travel along the NPD Road to Leh in January and February 2024. We document India’s infrastructural push in Eastern Ladakh to deal with Beijing’s aggression in the border dispute along the China-occupied Tibet border or the LAC. Altogether, the alternate axis is also significant in dealing with the Pakistan second front in Siachen and from POJK.

A StratNews Global team of Amitabh P. Revi, Rohit Pandita, and Karan Marwaha travels along the road, during the fourth winter of India’s forward deployment post Xi Jinping’s aggression that led to the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020.

In ‘The Himalayan Frontier, Part III and Episode IV, we travel from Manali, through the Atal Tunnel under the Rohtang Pass and on the Nimu-Padam- Darcha (NPD) road to Leh. This is during the fourth winter of India’s forward deployment.  And after Xi Jinping’s aggression that led to the deadly Galwan clashes in 2020. The freezing temperatures highlight one of the several challenges the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) faces in recce-ing, tracing, and drilling through the mighty ranges.

Afterwards, Part V is filmed on the frozen Zanskar River ‘Chadar’ Trail at Chiling near Leh in Ladakh. Lastly, the exclusive interview with Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan, the Director General (DG) of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). “Making a road is a measure of a nation’s sovereignty,” he tells us. He adds, it also exercises command and control and it says these are my people”. Watch ‘The Himalayan Frontier’. Part V with StratNews Global’s Amitabh P. Revi