NEW DELHI: With China showing no intent towards de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh and instead ramping up its border infrastructure, India has also been pushed to strengthen connectivity to the locations where the troops from the two sides are still in a standoff position.
A day after the 16th round of Corps Commanders talks between India and China on Sunday, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) inaugurated a bridge to Hot Spring (PP15), one of the key standoff points along with Depsang and Demchok.
The BRO officially informed on July 18 that Project Himank has successfully constructed a bailey bridge on the Road Phobrang-Marsimik La-Hot Spring. The BRO personnel (Karmyogis) “have bridged another important gap to facilitate logistics support of our forces”, the BRO said in a twitter post.
This is in addition to the construction of a 120-metre permanent bridge over the mighty Shyok River, also in eastern Ladakh. The Chinese have been objecting to the strategically important 255-km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) Road that ends at an altitude of 16,614 ft at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), about 20 km short of the 18,700-ft high Karakoram Pass.
Col Chewang Rinchen Setu at 15,000 ft is another strategically important bridge over the Shyok, connecting Durbuk and DBO in eastern Ladakh. The areas of eastern Ladakh are being connected with roads and bridges, big and small, keeping the necessity of mobility in mind as the prolonged standoff between the Indian troops and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army prevails along the Line of Actual Control. In high altitude mountain terrain, these gaps, if not filled, compel the soldiers to travel longer routes taking more time and also making logistics supply cumbersome.