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‘Nyoma airfield game-changer’: Rajnath opens new border infra
The upgradation of Nyoma airstrip to a full-fledged base for fighter operations will be spearheaded by women officers. It is likely to be completed by Sept 2025
Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who inaugurated a raft of infrastructure projects near the China border on Tuesday, said the airfield coming up at Nyoma in eastern Ladakh, one of the world’s highest, will be a “game-changer” for the armed forces while stressing that timely execution of projects in far-flung areas has become “the new normal of New India.”
Singh dedicated to the country 90 projects, executed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) at a cost of ₹2,941 crore, with the new roads, bridges, tunnels, airfields and helipads set to boost military mobility, logistics support for deployed forces, and movement of civilians in border areas stretching from Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
India’s infrastructure push is a direct response to the Chinese thrust on developing its border areas.
Singh remotely inaugurated 63 bridges, 22 roads, one tunnel, two airfields and two helipads from Jammu where he opened the BRO’s 422-metre Devak bridge on Bishnah-Kaulpur-Phulpur road. He also virtually laid the foundation stone of the Nyoma airfield, located at a height of 13,300 feet and 23km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along which India and China have been locked in a military standoff for more than three years.
Those present included minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office Jitendra Singh, BRO chief Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, Air Marshal Pankaj Mohan Sinha.
“BRO is also going to start work on the airfield at Nyoma. It will be developed as a staging ground for troops deployed at forward posts in Ladakh. This will be one of the highest airfields in the world, which will be a game changer for our armed forces,” Singh said.
The upgradation of the Nyoma airstrip to a full-fledged base for fighter operations will be spearheaded by a crew of women officers and the project is expected to be completed by September 2025.
The airstrip was out of use for decades after the 1962 India-China war before the Indian Air Force reactivated it in September 2009 and landed an AN-32 transport aircraft there for the first time. IAF has operated its C-130J special operations aircraft, AN-32s and helicopters from Nyoma in support of the military’s forward deployments, including during the ongoing LAC row with China.
Six of the 90 projects inaugurated by Singh are bridges on the strategic 255-km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldi (DS-DBO) road near LAC, BRO officials said. (These are at: Km 137, Km 161 Km, 162 Km, 174 Km, 183 Km and Km 201— the “Km” here denotes the points at which the bridges have been constructed). The DS-DBO road provides connectivity to India’s northern-most outpost, Daulat Beg Oldi.
Depsang in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and CNN junction in Demchok are the outstanding problems along LAC that top the Indian Army’s agenda at the ongoing negotiations with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to resolve the border row.
The projects inaugurated by Singh included the Nechiphu tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh and two airfields in West Bengal.
Ladakh accounts for eight new roads — Leh-Chalunka, Darbuk-Tangtse, Tangtse-Lukung, Leh-Loma, Loma-Dungti, Mahe-Debring, Shyok realignment and Burtse ITBP border out post link; and bridges on other roads such as Hanle-Chumar, Upshi-Sarchu, Sanku-Kanur-Sapila-Mulbek, Langaru-Photoskar-Niraq, Hanuthang-Handonbroke, Nimu-Padam-Darcha and Phobrang-Marimikla-Hot Spring.
The new roads inaugurated in Arunachal Pradesh, where LAC is prone to face-offs between Indian and Chinese soldiers, include Jung bypass, Lagamche grazing ground-Mukto-Teli, Kaying-Tato, Karoti-Tenai and Nampong-Newputuk, while bridges have been constructed on roads including Orang-Kalakatang-Shergaon-Rupa-Tenga, Taliha-Nacho, Tato-Menchuka, Along-Yinkiong, Tato-Manigong-Tadadege, Meshai-Dichu, Changwinti-Walong-Namti, Namti-Kibithu, Anini-Mipi and Nampong-Vijaynagar.
“There was a time when infrastructure projects took a long time to start, and even if they started, they took a long time to finish... Now the people of the country do not consider infrastructure development in border areas as a big achievement. They think it’s normal. Timely completion of projects has become the new normal of New India,” Singh said.
BRO has completed nearly 300 crucial projects (including the 90 inaugurated) in the country’s border areas during the last three years at a cost of ₹8,000 crore. These projects have supported the military’s pursuit of robust deterrence against China, the officials said.
Singh made a mention of the Shinku La tunnel being constructed by BRO at a height of 15,855 feet to provide all-weather connectivity between Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh and Zanskar Valley in Ladakh. When complete by 2025, the 4.1-km tunnel will be the highest in the world (currently, the Mila tunnel in China at 15,584 feet holds that distinction).
As things stand, China has an edge over India in border infrastructure, but India is fast bridging the gaps on the back of speedy execution of strategic projects to support military operations, increased spending, and focused adoption of technology and techniques to fill gaps that came into focus after the standoff with China began.
