BRO Opens Strategic Leh-Manali National Highway After 5 Months
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has reopened the Leh-Manali national highway, restoring road connectivity between Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. The highway remained closed for five months due to heavy snowfall during winter.
The snow clearance operation was executed by 111 RCC/753 BRTF under Project Himank in Ladakh and 70 RCC/38 BRTF under Project Deepak in Himachal Pradesh. The teams worked in challenging conditions, battling snow storms and treacherous weather conditions to clear the national highway and negotiate four important passes, including the Baralacha La (15,910 ft), Nakee La (15,547 ft), Lachung La (16,616 ft), and Tanglang La (17,482 ft).
The two snow clearance teams converged at Sarchu on the inter-project boundary, where a golden handshake ceremony was organized on Tuesday in the presence of the chief engineers of Project Himank and Project Deepak, as well as administrative officials. The ribbon was cut by a local child, and the road was declared open for traffic.
The ceremony was graced by Col Amit Sakhre of Project Himank, Col KS Lavana (Commander 753 Task Force), Leh additional deputy commissioner Gulam Mohammad, and others. Project Deepak chief engineer Navin Kumar, 38 Task Force commander and Lahaul-Spiti SP Mayank Chaudhary, and BRO and civil administration officials from Himachal Pradesh were also present.
