The year was 1965. As a young 2/Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, I had the rare honour of being the fulcrum of a military operation directly under Army HQ. I was posted in an Engineer Regiment in Nagrota. The J&K government had imported six heavy diesel generators from Czechoslovakia, each weighing about 10 tonnes. They were brought by ship to India and by train to Pathankot, the then railhead.
Transporting the generators to Srinagar by road was theoretically not feasible as the classification, which specifies the load-bearing capacity, of many bridges en route was much below 10 tonnes. A high-level meeting was held in New Delhi involving top bosses of Central and state governments and the engineer-in-chief (E-in-C) from Army HQ to find a solution. The seemingly impossible job finally fell on the E-in-C.
The job then was given to us, as we were the only Engineer Regiment in J&K. The Army HQ considered it a high risk, but prestigious challenge, and designated it Op Netrabindu. Our Regimental HQ announced the formation of a convoy with contingents from Army Service Corps, Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, and elsewhere.
I was chosen as convoy commander. In order to make me more acceptable to other officers in the convoy, my regiment promoted me directly to Captain, usually done during war. My commanding officer ceremoniously removed my one star and replaced it with three stars. That was a proud moment for me, as proud as the midnight I was commissioned into the Indian Army two years earlier.
The first trip was experimental. I went to inspect every bridge en route along with other seniors. I was aware that the classification of bridges was done with a very high margin of safety. We could overstep it with intelligent improvisation, for which the Corps of Engineers is well known. Under some bridges, we placed reinforcements with steel cribs. On others, we split the load by taking the truck across first and then pulling the trailer with the winch attached to the truck.
The journey from Pathankot to Udhampur was easy. From Udhampur to Srinagar, it was breathtakingly scenic though risky. The highest point on the road is the Banihal tunnel, an engineering marvel. When we finally reached Srinagar, senior government officials welcomed us. It was a 15-day journey over 330 km on NH44, across two hill ranges.
Raju Mathai
Email: mathairaju@yahoo.com