Srinagar-Leh highway: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) opened the 434 km long Srinagar-Leh highway for traffic on Thursday. The highway, which connects the Ladakh region with the rest of the country, has been opened for traffic after being remained closed for 66 days. Earlier on January 6 this year, the highway was closed owing to the heavy snowfall.
The first convoy of vehicles carrying essential items to the Ladakh region was flagged off by BRO Director General Lt. General Rajeev Chaudhary in the presence of the chief engineers of the two projects responsible for maintaining the highway on two sides of the Zojila Pass.
Notably, Zozila Pass is located on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh road (NH-1) at a height of 11,650 feet and provides a vital strategic link between Kashmir Valley and Ladakh region. This pass used to normally close by October-November every year and re-open only by April-May, with the total closure time averaging to almost five to six months.
Zozila Pass was kept open till January 6
With the renewed focus on infrastructure development and augmentation of connectivity to the Northern Borders in recent years, there has been a strategic requirement of minimising the closure of Zozila Pass during winters. The BRO accordingly ensured that the Zozila Pass was kept open for traffic till as late as January 6 this year, thereby creating a new historic precedence of its kind.
The advantage accrued by keeping Zozila open till this late can be assessed by the fact that almost 13,500 vehicles crossed the pass between the end of November 2022 and January 2023.
Despite a spell of severe winter which has witnessed the highest snowfall in the last five years, BRO rose to the challenge and initiated various measures to ensure the early opening of the Zozila Pass. Finding a clear window of dry weather in the first week of February, snow clearance teams were pushed into immediate action by Project Beacon and Project Vijayak from Sonamarg and Dras ends of Zozila.
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Zozila pass remained closed for 66 days
After sustained and relentless efforts, initial connectivity across Zozila Pass was established on March 11, 2023. Improvement and widening of a road surfaces have been carried out since then to facilitate the safe passage of vehicles. A trial convoy of vehicles has been successfully passed through the Zozila on 16 Mar 2023, thereby ensuring that the pass remained closed for only 66 days this year as compared to 73 days last year and 160-180 days in the yesteryears.
Likewise, Razdan Pass, which provides the only road connectivity between the Gureiz Sector and the Kashmir Valley, has also been successfully reopened on March 16, 23 after a gap of just 58 days. Other important passes at Sadhna, Pharkiyan Gali and Zamindar Gali have been kept open throughout this winter season.
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BRO DG commends organisation's 'karmayogis'
Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen Chaudhry, commended the "karamayogis" of 'Project Beacon' and 'Project Vijayak' in achieving this feat. Early opening of the Zozila and Razdan Passes will facilitate augmentation of the supply of essential goods and services for the people of Ladakh and Gureiz Valley.
He reiterated BRO’s commitment towards nation-building and service to the people. During the interaction, Lt Gen Chaudhry said that the trial movement of vehicles has been conducted successfully today and the decision to open the road for civil traffic will be taken by the Civil Administration after the conduct of the joint inspection.
