Galwan Valley Bridge Built By BRO Even When Standoff With China Was Going On
The Defence Ministry’s report says BRO completed around 1,993 km of formation cutting work, and executed nearly 2,341 km of surfacing work and construction of 2,683 meters of bridges by end 2021.
In 2020, despite the standoff in eastern Ladakh, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which is responsible for the construction of roads and bridges in the border areas, improved its record over last year.
A satellite image of the bridge BRO built near the Galwan Valley last year, during the standoff with China in the area, can be seen.
The satellite image, which appears to have been taken in August 2020, shows vehicles moving across the bridge. The high-resolution satellite picture was posted on Twitter by open-source intelligence handle @detresfa_.
India had completed the construction of a bridge in the Galwan Valley, sometime around 18 June last year, only a few days after the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the area.
After the clashes in the Galwan Valley, which left 20 Indian Army personnel and over 40 PLA troops dead, the Indian Army accelerated and finished the construction of the bridge.
The Indian Army’s Karu-based 3 Infantry division asked the Army Engineers unit to speed the construction of the critical bridge. After the bridge was completed in June, the Indian Army tested it with its vehicles.
This bridge construction despite deadly clashes with China in the area, gave a clear indication to China that Indian Army will not stop developing critical infrastructure on its side of the Line of Actual Control.
The 60-meter bridge provides the Indian Army better connectivity in the area, allowing military vehicles and soldiers to cross the stream safely.
Called a ‘bailey bridge’, which is a portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge, it allows rapid movement of military vehicles of all kinds, including heavy ones, such as infantry combat vehicles of the Indian Army.
In the middle of the standoff and a raging pandemic, construction teams worked day and night to complete the work on the bridge.
Reports say the bridge is located close to the confluence of the Galwan and Shyok rivers, only a few kilometres away from the Line of Actual Control.
