The 434-km vital Srinagar-Leh road damaged by the recent flash floods and landslides triggered by cloudbursts has been restored after days of hectic work done by the engineers and men of the Army, Border Roads Organisation and allied agencies.
According to deputy commissioner Leh, with the completion of a 100-feet span bridge at Nurla, constructed jointly by Army engineers and GREF, the road between Leh and Srinagar was thrown open for traffic on Friday evening.
He said the bridge was built in a record time of 48 hours. About 150 vehicles, including 60 LMVs left for Srinagar immediately after reopening of the road.
The other vital road link-the Leh-Manali road has already been restored after the Army built seven bridges in less than a week.
Meanwhile, relief and rescue operation at Leh and its neighbourhood continued on the ninth day on Saturday. Last week’s flash floods and mudslides have killed 189 people, including five European tourists, 18 Nepali and Tibetan nationals and half a dozen soldiers and injured several hundred others whereas over 400 are still missing. These also swept away buildings, roads and power cables in Leh, the cultural capital of Ladakh.
The Army has also come to the rescue of the people of Skyurbuchan, a remote village in Kargil district devastated by flash floods on August 7. While the road-link and other communications with the village have been disrupted, scores of houses and other buildings and schools have been destroyed and bridges collapsed or washed away. “While bridges and roads have disappeared after these were washed away in flash floods, many houses have been buried under several feet of mud, dimming chances of people being rescued alive,” said Northern Command spokesperson Lt. Col. J.S. Brar.
The rescuers have, so far, found three persons dead and another three injured, he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting flood devastated Leh on August 17.