50 yrs after war, road that troubled Army remains tricky as ever
Fifty years later, the road to Tawang, and beyond to the international boundary, is still barely motorable. More than 250 km of the 329-km stretch from Tezpur to Tawang is being redone under a massive double-laning programme; this has only added to a traveller’s headache. The original target date for completion was December 2012 but December 2014 is now the “final” target.
“This is probably the worst highway in India. And being of such strategic importance, we wonder why the work has been so slow. Travel time from Tezpur to here, which was about 16 hours till say five years ago, can today take even up to 48 hours,” rued Jimisang Jebisow, president of the All Arunachal Pradesh Motor Transport Federation, an organisation of the owners of over 10,000 commercial vehicles.
This monsoon, the federation enforced a 24-hour chakka bandh on the highway. People even damaged a few vehicles belonging to the Border Roads Organisation that has been engaged in the double-laning.
“This road is the lifeline not just of the Army but also of the people of four districts. The tourism sector is also heavily dependent on this road,” said tour operator Tsering Wange,
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