House panel warns against poor roads along China

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28

In a telling reminder of India’s woeful road infrastructure in the border areas along China, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has warned that poor road connectivity in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, could delay the Indian Army’s response while it has suggested immediate all-weather road connection between Zanskar in western part of Ladakh and Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh to open up an alternative and shorter route to Kargil and Zanskar.

The Committee headed by Lt Gen BC Khanduri (retd), now an elected BJP MP from Uttarakhand, submitted its report to both Houses of Parliament yesterday. This report is on ‘civil expenditure of Ministry of defence’ and deal with use of Capital budget of the MoD. The Committee was concerned at the lack of infrastructure in Tawang -- in Western Arunachal Pradesh.

During the 1962 conflict, the Chinese had descended down the same route to outclass the Indian Army resulting in humiliating defeat and Tawang remains a flashpoint between the two countries. The report said the committee was dismayed to note that in Tawang area the situation is still very critical in-so-far as connectivity is concerned.   “In case of a war, the Army cannot reach there in a day while our neighbouring country (it borders only China) can reach the borders within two or three hours”, the report said.

Expressing concern, it says, “This is a matter of great concern with regard to our defence preparedness. The committee recommends good quality roads in this area (Tawang) on priority basis”  On connecting Ladakh with Himachal Pradesh the report said “the committee recommends construction of Nimo-Padum-Darcha road”. Sources have explained this saying a survey was carried out last summer and the Army proposed to connect Padum in Zanskar, Ladakh, with an existing road (70 km away from it) in Himachal Pradesh, separated by high mountains.

The Army has suggested that the existing jeep track from Padum to the base of the 16,700-foot-high Shingo-La on the Zanskar side be metalled and a tunnel be made under the pass that will open near Chikka village in Lahaul Spiti. This will then connect to Darcha. This will provide access to existing road meandering down from Keylong to Chamba towards Pathankot and also the Manali—Chandigarh road.

The proposed move, will be a boon for the remote Zanskar region where people have to trek of frozen rivers during winters besides providing an alternative shorter route to Kargil, which is already connected with Padum. The route has lesser snow and roads are at lower altitudes. During winters Army equipment and men can only be moved onboard the daily flights of IL-76 from Chandigarh and in case of a war-like scenario, the air effort will be the only option.

In 1999 Kargil,  located along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, saw a limited war. Road access is through two circuitous routes. One of the existing routes is Jammu-Srinagar-Sonamarg-Dras-Kargil- dotted by the Zojila pass and the ‘Z-Morh’ which get heavy snowfall. The other route, Manali-Keylong-Leh, is dotted with one of the highest motorable passes in the world which are open only for four months or so, that too with engineering efforts.