The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has been coordinating with the Jharkhand government to ferry around 11,000 labourers in seven trains to the border areas in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. A train was to leave the state on Friday but had not until evening.
Eventually close to 8,000 out of the 11,000 workers will be transported to Ladakh. About 3,500 workers will be working on the 255-km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie Road. The blacktopping of about 70-80 km of this road is left, which is to be completed by this year end. China has objected to a branch lane leading from this road, which has led to the ongoing confrontation.
The 3,500 labourers will also be working on the construction of five important roads leading to the LAC, which are also being constructed by the BRO. They are Phobrang-Masmikla road, Masmikla-Hot Springs road, Chisumle-Demchok road, Koyul-Photile-Chisumle-Zurasar road and Hanle-Photile road. “The construction of these roads has been continuing, but the pace of work is slower than usual, because the number of labourers required for the job is less. This is due to the Covid-induced nationwide lockdown,” said an official on condition of anonymity. The Phobrang-Masmikla road is important because the village Phobrang is located near Pangong Tso and the route leads to Hot Springs. Both Pangong Tso and Hot Springs are among the sites witnessing the ongoing standoff between the Chinese and Indian troops.
The road leading to Demchok will also be crucial in sending reinforcements and logistics during a crisis. Demchok hadwitnessed incursions by the Chinese.