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Snow-bound Zojila Pass reopens

      Zojila (Jammu and Kashmir): The Zojila Pass, a strategically-located highway that links Ladakh to Srinagar has reopened after four months. Located at an altitude of 11,578 feet, this vital national highway attracts the heaviest snowfall during winters and remains closed to traffic for nearly six months of the year. Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Commandant A.P Sinha said that the organisation and local authorities worked overtime to clear the snow from the road. Clearing of the road is one of the most dangerous operations for the BRO and dozens of labourers die every year due to landslides, snowstorms and falling boulders during the operation. A convoy of Indian army passed through the road after the BRO declared it traffic-worthy.

    "We started the work on 3rd March with the requisite equipment and manpower. Though the snow was less this time, the wok was highly laborious. The lowest layers had become highly hard and were it was taking too much time to clear those layers," Sinha said. "Working here is extremely dangerous but we have to work for our countrymen. We wanted to open to road as soon as possible. We have to work for at least 8-10 hours and protect ourselves from landslides. We have employed guards whose main work is just to see upwards and caution us in case boulders are falling from above," Gulcharan Singh, a BRO worker said. BRO undertakes snow clearance operations on all border roads in the tough Himalayan range every year, to facilitate movement of residents and military personnel to remote regions, usually cut- off due to snow from the rest of the country.

     The 434-kilometres (271-miles) long highway is Ladakh's lifeline and after Kargil skirmishes in 1999 with neighbouring Pakistan, the federal government has stepped up the pace of alternative roads because of the strategic significance of the area. Another 2.43 billion rupees is being spent under Prime Minister's reconstruction programme on double-laning the Srinagar-Leh road.
-April 19, 2006

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