NPD Road: Critical Connectivity To China, Pakistan Himalayan Fronts In Ladakh

Why is the NPD Road critical in Ladakh for the Northern borders with China and Pakistan? In ‘The Himalayan Frontier’, Part IV, we complete our journey to Leh on the strategic third, alternate axis—the Darcha-Padam-Nimu (NPD) Road, which we started in episode III. This episode has 200,000 + views on February, 25, 2024.  The route provides critical connectivity for defence logistics to and civilian development around the Northern China-occupied Tibet border or Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Line of Control (LoC), and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Siachen with Pakistan. The NPD road critical in Ladakh is shielded from both the India-China border and the frontier with Pakistan, unlike the other two axes. A StratNews Global team of Amitabh P. Revi, Rohit Pandita, and Karan Marwaha travels during the fourth winter of India’s forward deployment post-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, drilling through the mighty ranges, and building black-top roads on this route to make the NPD Road critical in Ladakh. India’s infrastructure development has seen a sustained thrust, especially after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) salami-slicing tactics in border areas. In part II of this series, the Indian Army Chief, General Manoj Pande told StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale in an exclusive interview, that talks with China are continuing at both military and diplomatic levels but India is maintaining a robust posture along the LAC. then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen. Upendra Dwivedi, now the Vice Chief of the Army Staff also told Nitin Gokhale in Part I, that the “situation is stable but sensitive and not normal”.

This series continues with an interview of Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan, the Director General, BRO at Chiling near Leh, ground reports that document the consistent infrastructure push in road connectivity including the NPD Road which is critical in Ladakh, and air bridges, and capture on camera how the Indian Army, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), and the Indian Air Force’s women, men and machines are honing their all-weather readiness during another winter, against the two-front threat from China and Pakistan.

The series goes on to document the Indian Air Force, Air Force Station, Leh and interview Air Commodore D.S. Handa, the Air Officer Commanding. The next episode has an exclusive interview with the IAF Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari with StratNews Global Founder and Editor-in-Chief Nitin Gokhale. This is an ongoing series.

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