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Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 8
In a strategically vital development, India has completed its first road connectivity to the Current Control Line (LAC) with China in Uttarakhand, paving the way for pilgrims to head to the sacred Kailash Mansarovar and also for the troops deployed there.
A road to the 17,000-foot-high Lipulekh Pass has been completed, the holy Mount Kailash lies about 97 km north of the pass in Tibet.
The connectivity of the 80 km from Ghatiabgarh-Lipulekh was achieved by the Border Highway Organization (BRO) on April 17, some trials followed and on Friday morning Defense Minister Rajnath Singh led the way by videoconference. The Lipulekh Pass, near the India-China-Nepal Tri-crossing, is the lowest point in this section of the Upper Himalayas.
The 80 km, which now has a road, involved more than a three-day one-way walk for the pilgrims and also for the security forces located there. The completion of the trail means that it will now be a two-day journey distance from Delhi to Lipulekh, a distance of 750 km through Pithoragarh. In total, it will cut about six days from Kailash-Mansarovar yatra. Beyond Lipulekh, the 97 km road in Tibet to Mount Tibet already exists.
The road on the Indian side, for now, has been completed just 5 km from Lipulekh. Sources said the Director General of Military Operations had temporarily banned last-mile connectivity. Once approved, BRO expects to complete the last five km by the end of the year.
The entire route from Delhi to Kailash Mansarovar, which is not 5 km, will be by vehicle. A Yatri from Delhi can go to Pithoragarh and from there at night stop at Gunji for the first acclimatization and the second near the Lipulekh Pass for acclimatization of the second stage, necessary due to the altitude and rarefied air in treeless Tibet .
The other route for the yatra is through Sikkim is 2780 km. It involves taking a flight to Bagdogra (1,115 km from Delhi), then 1,665 km of road trip, including 1,490 km of road trip in China.
The 80 km section of Ghatiabgarh-Lipulekh is carried out under the instructions of the China Study Group (CSG) and is funded by the Indochina Border Highway (ICBR). The road was approved by the Cabinet Security Committee (CCS) in 2005 at a cost of Rs 80.76 crore. In 2018 CCS approved a revised cost of Rs 439.40 crore.
Progress in the past two years was made possible by the addition of construction crews: 90 crews were deployed on the road.
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