Indian Army’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has created a record by reopening the Zoji La pass, the strategic gateway between Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, for traffic yesterday, just 73 days after its closure. In previous years, the pass has on average remained closed for over 135 days, with the onset of winter and the heavy snowfall. During the current winter season, the BRO was able to keep the pass open right until January 5 this year. This was only because of the relentless snow clearance operations undertaken by BRO even amidst the toughest of weather conditions.
Operations to reopen the pass this year began as early as February 15, with snow clearance operations being undertaken from both sides of the pass under the BRO’s Project Beacon and Project Vijayak.
