Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road

Darbuk–Shyok-DBO Road (DS-DBO Road/DSDBO Road), also called the Sub-Sector North road, is a strategic all-weather road in eastern Ladakh in India, close to the Line of Actual Control with China. It connects Ladakh's capital city Leh, via the villages of Darbuk and Shyok at southern Shyok Valley, with the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) post near the northern border. The 220-km long section between Shyok and DBO was constructed between 2000 and 2019 by India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO). Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road had reduced the travel time between Leh(Capital of Indian Union territory of Ladakh) to Daulat Beg Oldie(DBO) from 2 days to 6 hours.[1][2][3]

Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road
Sub-Sector North Road
Route information
Maintained by Border Roads Organisation
Length255 km[1] (158 mi)
ExistedApril 2019–present
Major junctions
FromLeh
 Darbuk
Shyok
ToDaulat Beg Oldi (DBO)
Location
DistrictsLeh district (Nubra)
Highway system
  • Expressways
  • National
  • State
Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road[lower-alpha 1]

History

The Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road traverses the historic winter route, also called the Zamistānee route, used by the trading caravans between Leh and Yarkand. Whereas the summer route would cross the Ladakh Range through the difficult Sasser Pass to reach the Shyok River valley, the winter route used to go via the banks of the Shyok River when the water flow is much reduced and the frozen river surface could be crossed on foot as needed.[4][5]

The two routes met near Sultan Chhushku, at which point the Shyok River was crossed to the east, and the valleys of Murgo and Burtsa nalas were followed to the Depsang Plains and on to the Karakoram Pass.[lower-alpha 2]

Route

The BRO road begins near the village of Shyok, which is the on the west bank of the Shyok River after its V-shaped bend. Shyok already has roads leading west, to Leh via Darbuk, and south, leading to Pangong Tso. The BRO road crosses the Shyok river to its right bank and rounds the corner, continuing along its right bank due north (on the west side of the river bed).

After passing the historic campsites of Chhumed, Mundro and Mandaltang, it crosses the river near Sultan Chhushku. A 430-metre-long bridge over the full width of the river bed has been constructed and named the 'Colonel Chewang Rinchen Setu'.[lower-alpha 3]

After the Setu, the road goes through the valley of Murgo Nala to reach the village of Murgo, then the valley of Burtsa Nala to pass the sites of Burtsa and Qizil Langar, close to the Line of Actual Control with China. After Qizil Langar, the road enters the Depsang Plains on a more or less straight route to the Dault Beg Oldi.

Construction

The construction was initiated in 2000, with a revised deadline of 2014. However, in 2011, an inquiry by the Chief Technical Examiner found that three-quarters of the road had been laid on the river bed, which is unsuitable for military use. A new Border Roads Task Force from Jammu was then commissioned to realign the constructed road on higher ground and to complete it. The revamped project was scheduled for completion in 2017 but was eventually completed in April 2019. The old alignment was used in the intervening period during the winter months.[8]

Notes
  1. The border is marked by the OpenStreetMap editors and may not be accurate.
  2. The summer caravan route is marked on the map provided by Maj. Gen. Vombatkere.[6]
  3. The bridge has been named after a hero of Ladakh, Chewang Rinchen, who organised the Ladakhi resistance to the Gilgit Scouts invasion during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. He received Maha Vir Chakra, India's second higest military honour, twice in his life time.[7]
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References
  1. Ajay Banerjee, India completes vital Ladakh road, The Tribune (Chandigarh) 22 April 2019.
  2. Nirupama Subramanian (16 June 2020). "Explained: The strategic road to DBO". The Indian Express.
  3. Lt Gen Prakash Katoch, DSDBO Road completed – but what of the scam and the northeast?, Indian Defence Review, 27 April 2019.
  4. Hayward, G. W. (1870), "Journey from Leh to Yarkand and Kaghgar, and Exploration of the Sources of the Yarkana River", The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society: 33
  5. Warikoo, K. (2009), "India's gateway to Central Asia: trans-Himalayan trade and cultural movements through Kashmir and Ladakh, 1846–1947", in Warikoo, K. (ed.), Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives, Routledge, p. 1, ISBN 978-1-134-03294-5: "Those traders and passersby who opted to travel to Yarkand in winter would cross Digar La and follow the narrow and winding valleys of the Shyok river. This river, which was frozen during winter, was to be crossed and re-crossed several times."
  6. Maj Gen S. G. Vombatkere, A Ring-Side View Of The Chinese Incursion, Countercurrents.org, 7 May 2013.
  7. PTI, India's Highest Altitude All-weather Permanent Bridge Inaugurated by Rajnath Singh in Eastern Ladakh, News18, 21 October 2019.
  8. Sushant Singh, Constructed on the riverbed, the road to China border being rebuilt, The Indian Express, 4 June 2015.
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