BRO restores Manali-Leh highway in record 47 days

Tribune News Service

Dipender Manta

Mandi, April 23

The BRO has restored strategically important 427-km Manali-Leh highway for single lane traffic in record 47 days today. The BRO started clearing snow on this highway from Manali towards Sarchu on March 26, while another team of BRO was engaged in clearing snow from Leh towards Sarchu. Today, both the teams met at Sarchu and took part in a handshake ceremony.

Complete snow removal work was done by BRO under ‘Project Himank’ in Ladakh and ‘Project Deepak’ in Himachal Pradesh. The challenging task began from two ends and was performed by two different teams comprising skilled manpower and state-of-the-art machines.

‘Project Deepak’ was run from Manali to Sarchu (border of Ladakh and Himachal) and ‘Project Himank’ undertook the cleaning of the highway from Leh to Sarchu. The ‘crews’ of both projects worked under challenging conditions, braving snow storms and elevated areas. They had to clear four high-altitude passes on this highway - Baralacha La (15,910 ft), Nakee La (15,547 ft), Lachung La (16,616 ft) and Tanglang La (17,482 ft).

Chief Engineer of BRO Navin Kumar said that despite many challenges, the workforce restored this highway in record period of time. There was over 30 feet snow on the ground. The task was very tough and the BRO workforce was able to restore this highway in such a short period.

“The highway is strategically important as it facilitates the movement of the armed forces, Indian and foreign tourists and residents of Ladakh,” he added.

Lahaul and Spiti SP Mayank Chaudhary said that the highway would be reopened for civil traffic after inspection of this road. First, an army convoy would move on this highway from Manali to Leh via Baralacha La after a few days. The general traffic would be allowed if the road was found suitable for the movement of civil traffic. The SP stated that public safety was top priority of the district administration and a decision would be taken keeping this in mind. Last year, the BRO had restored this highway on March 25.

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