Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar: The Border Roads Organization’s (BRO) Project Himank is carving out world’s highest mortarable road by cutting glaciers near the China border to connect Daulat Beg Oldi military base.
The road is being constructed at an altitude of around 18000 feet road and Sasoma to Saser La will be a vital link paved over glaciers which are unstable and frequently change their physical nature.
The present under construction road length is over 54 kilometers which passes through world’s highest glaciers in Eastern Ladakh. This was the most difficult portion of the road and is almost done. Around 50 more kilometers of road length will connect it with the Daulat Beg Oldi.
The road emerges from Nobra and is shortest road to Daulat Beg Oldi. The construction of the road is special due to challenges posed by glaciers and presence of moraines in the area.
Besides adverse weather, biting cold, bone chilling winds, there is always lurking danger of crevasses and avalanches while the road is being constructed. Since the temperature dips to minus 50 degree Celsius during winter and in the peak summers the temperature hovers around 12 degree Celsius in the region.
Working in such extreme weather conditions is a herculean task and glaciers which shift constantly as snow melts add to the difficulty of construction workers.
An official of the Hemank said that as the working period is quite short and the BRO makes prior preparations and chalks out a working strategy to achieve its targets in the limited available time.
“The short working period needs to be utilised to the maximum thus requiring effective management of manpower and resources to meet out the challenges. Planning of work starts four to five months prior to the start of the working season”, the official said.
