Chhewang Dorje
Ladakh comprises of two district of Leh and Kargil and both the districts have border with the two of our main south Asian neighbors China and Pakistan. We have conflicting relations with both China and Pakistan and under the tense border condition (like the one we have with China in DBO sector of Changthang) it is very important to have shortest surface connectivity with the borders. So in these circumstances the Nyemo-Padum-Darcha Road becomes very important but due to apathetic altitude of the administration this road is nowhere near completion till date. This road is also very important to the local population of Zanskar in particular and Ladakh in general but in the dominant discourse of Kashmir this genuine demand of people has been totally neglected. Kashmir is always in limelight while as Jammu and Ladakh has been neglected. Together Leh and Kargil constitute more than 50 percent of the geographic area but in terms of population it have been less than 9% which is only 274289. But inside Ladakh it is the region of Zanskar (which is a sub division of Kargil) that has been marginalized in terms of all developmental needs. The region of Zanskar comprises over half of Kargil district in terms of area which is 7000km but out of the total population of 140802 Zanskar has only around 13846. Internally it is disconnected to the other area of Ladakh like Leh and Kargil which are administrative centres of the region and externally it is disconnected to the region outside Ladakh and at the same time deprived of those modern facilities like ITC. So called 21st century is not only about metro and 4G rather it is also about a marginalized population of Zanskar struggling to get basic connectivity. There are also media bias towards Zanskar as it comes in the news for being highest pooling booth and election staff travelling too far to get vote collected during election time but it always turnes blind to the struggles local population have in their daily life. Same media never talkes about the hardship of the people of Zanskar because of its being not connected to the outside world. They are not concerned with the struggles that the local population face.
It was the unfortunate decade of 1979 when Ladakh was partitioned into two districts and Zanskar was adjusted to Kargil district and from that very moment it has been struggling to get resources from the administration. While Zanskar makes up half of the area of Kargil district, it is barely represented at the upper echelons of the Government bureaucracy in Kargil, Zanskar is one of the oldest tehsils in the Jammu and Kashmir but even then its demand for district status has been neglected. Zanskar is one of the most remote regions of Jammu and Kashmir with only one road (which remains open only for 4 month in a year) it is very dangerous to travel because of the poor condition of the road and with no airport at all. During winter the only approach to Zanskar is to travel along the frozen river where the ices freezes so thick that is becomes a highway known as “the chadder Road”. But this travelling on Chadder road is very dangerous as some time frozen part caves in and many a time led to loss of life. In this world of 21st century when people in the metropolitan cities are travelling in metros it is hard to imagine how people in Zanskar travel on this “Chadder Road”. It was in January this year that a mother in Ladakh had to travel 45 miles to the nearest hospital in -35C to give birth to a baby. Isn’t that very harsh to a mother? The birth of a child is one of the most significant moments in a family’s life but many are fortunate enough to experience this in the comfort of a hospital, but for this family in Ladakh, the situation is quite different as they were forced to travel on foot for 45 miles to get to the nearest hospital. A road linking Nyemo-Padum-Darcha has been approved by the central Government way back in 2000 but this road is nowhere near completion and now deadline for its completion has been extended to 2021 which is far enough. Nyemo-Padum-Darcha road has been basic demand of the people of Zanskar and it is not only for the people of Zanskar that it is important in fact it is also important to the whole of India as it will connect Ladakh (which is border to both China and Pakistan) to Himachal Pradesh and we will have shorter and round the year route to the rest of India. so it is for the safety of whole Jammu and Kashmir that it is important. I think here we need to understand the importance of Zanskar with reference to the letter written by H.N. Kaul to Nehru during partition and threats of invasion from Skardu. In this letter Kaul wrote “The safety of Zanskar is also vital to the safety of Leh, Lahoul, and East Punjab… For as long as we hold Leh and Zanskar, we hold the entire district and guard Kashmir, Changthang and Lahoul against possible invasion” In this letter Kaul highlight the strategic importance of Zanskar for the security of whole Jammu and Kashmir from possible invasion. I think Kaul’s letter was largely overlooked, as its message is as relevant today as it was then.
This Nyemo-Padum-Darcha Road is strategically very important to the security of its very fragile border with China in the east and Pakistan in the west because this road will easily transport men and material to the border in times of crisis. Leh-Srinagar road falls under the surveillance of our enemy no 1 Pakistan and other road linking Leh-Manali also falls under Chinese surveillance. So under these conditions this road will become very strategic for border security. But work on this road has been very slow and even it is equal to no work so the need of the hour is to speed up work on this road.
(The author is a JNU Scholar)
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