Ladakh: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has made a pathbreaking breakthrough in opening the Nimu-Padam-Darcha (NPD) Road to Leh. This 298-kilometre road connects Manali to Leh through Darcha and Nimu on the Kargil–Leh Highway. In this livestream we replug our travel along the NPD Road to Leh and highlight its significance. 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.
The route provides critical connectivity for defence logistics to and for civilian development around the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Line of Control (LoC), and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in Siachen with Pakistan. It 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 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
Livestream episodes
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
Editor’s Note: This series first aired in January and February 2024.
