At 18,380 ft, BRO teams clear way

But this road is the sole lifeline for over 3,000 soldiers posted around the Siachen glacier sector. And it is the Border Roads Organisation’s task to keep the road open, 365 days a year. Local women are driven in trucks up to 18,000 feet altitude from villages around Leh to remove the small rock and sweep the roads while the bulldozer, equipped with special snow-cutting blade, clears the road for convoy movement.

Post Kargil, there has been enhanced convoy movement because of the changed nature of operations even at the Siachen glacier, sources in the Trishul division say. There is heavy troop re-deployment on the southern glacier. “During Operation Vijay, some enemy shells landed dangerously close to strategic locations. Therefore, both men and material are being relocated, new locations fortified and the defences strengthened,” an official says. There are also concrete underground bunkers and stores of ammunition in the mountain caves in the area, he adds. “There is enhanced threat perception about possible engagement in the southern glacier and probably in the Haneef sub-sector also. But with Khardungla open, adequate resources are being made available before the start of the campaign season,” sources say. Campaign season the time when exchanges between India and Pakistan are at their peak is generally from May-end to beginning of October.