Indian media: for a long-term standoff with PLA, India built a 4.5 km tunnel

 

Indian media: for a long-term standoff with PLA, India to build tunnels in the plateau, distance will be greatly shortened.

In order to confront the PLA, India intends to build a new snow-free road to the so-called Ladakh region, the Hindustan Times website reported on August 25.

Indian media: for a long-term standoff with PLA

alienmilitary - According to the article, the construction of a third road to the area is planned to be completed within two years. It entails the construction of a 4.5-kilometer tunnel under the Shingo La Pass, an alpine pass between the so-called Ladakh region and Himachal Pradesh at an altitude of 16,570 feet (5,050 meters) above sea level.

Sources said India's national security planners are working on realizing a strategic all-weather road to the so-called Ladakh region, starting from Darcha in Himachal Pradesh, passing through Padum in the Kargil-Sanskar valley and eventually connecting to Nimu, which is about 35 km from Leh, the headquarters of the Indian Army's XIV Corps. This new route will save a lot of time compared to the earlier road.

According to the article, it will be the first all-weather road to the so-called Ladakh region. Currently, there are two roads in the area that connect to other areas.

Senior Indian military commanders were quoted in the article as saying that India urgently needs a third road to the so-called Ladakh region in view of Pakistan's threat to the Siachin Glacier and the Leh-City-Doula Special Orient Road.

According to the article, from the beginning of the military confrontation in the so-called East Ladakh region, Indian Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Indian Defence Minister Gen VK Singh have provided maximum support to the road construction project of the Indian Ministry of Defence.

According to Indian officials, the construction of the third road aims to upgrade the Darcha-Padum-Nimu trekking route to a gravel road and build a 4.5-km tunnel under the Shingo La pass on the Darcha-Padum route. The project, which has been in the works for a decade, is scheduled to be completed by the Indian Ministry of Defence within the next two years.

According to Indian military commanders, tunnels have to be dug at four other mountain passes compared to this route in order to ensure year-round access to the existing Manali-Leheng route. 

The route already has the Atal tunnel on the Rohtang La pass at 10,171 feet (3,100 meters) above sea level, which is already the highest tunnel in the world. 

The four additional passes to be tunneled are at even higher altitudes and are currently only accessible from mid-May to mid-November each year, with the rest of the time covered in deep snow.

The Darcha-Padum-Nimu route would only require the construction of a 4.5 km highland tunnel through the Shingo La pass between Darcha and Padum (16,570 feet, about 5,050 meters above sea level), ensuring that the route would only need to be closed for two months during the winter.

Reports said the distance between Darcha and Padum is about 148 km and construction of the road between the two is already underway, while another 260 km road between Padum and Nimu is also under construction.

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