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After much dithering, a long-standing demand of the Indian Army will finally be fulfilled when a road linking the southern glacier of Siachen (in Jammu and Kashmir) to a base camp is constructed.
Expected to be the country's costliest road, the army hopes that it would bring down the cost of guarding the Siachen glacier.
At over 15,000 feet, it will also be among the highest motorable ones.
The army has a full-fledged brigade and an attached air wing for manning the world's highest and most dreaded war zone where it is face to face with Pakistani forces.
Despite suffering from a severe handicap, years of relentless fighting earned the Indian Army the strategic advantage that it now guards zealously.
While the Pakistani army can reach most of its posts in the area by road, India is heavily dependent on helicopters to supply its troops atop the glacier with everything from food and drinking water to munitions.
The army mostly employs Russian manufactured Mi-17 helicopters, which can carry a load of about three tons, for the job. At about Rs 1,17,000 per hour, it knocks a few million rupees off the army's budget every day, army officials said.
The proposed road, extending from Chalunka village to a base in the southern Glacier, would be 32 kilometers long. The project would be complete sometime in 2004, army sources said.
"The road would enable us to move troops and supplies in a more cost-effective way and reduce dependence on helicopters," a senior army official said.
A survey has revealed that the route that the proposed road will take is completely safe from enemy fire.
"There is an existing 25 km long road from Chalunka to the lower reaches of Siachen, but it is visible to enemy observation posts and susceptible to shelling," the officer said.
In fact, relentless shelling by Pakistani forces forced the army to completely shift a unit out of Chalunka to a nearby location.
Ever since 1984, the army has been advocating construction of a motorable road to Siachen to cut down the cost in maintaining troops there.
Another important reason is the necessity to move troops and equipment quickly in case of an emergency.
The Border Roads Organization will be constructing the road. The BRO is a world-renowned organisation, which had earlier constructed the highest motorable pass at 18,383 feet at Khardungla, en route to Siachen.
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