Kolkata, Oct 12 (IANS) A major disaster was averted by alert staff of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in Ladakh, officials said.
A BRO team on Sunday was engaged in formation cutting work somewhere in Kargil when a landslide occurred.
Several lives could have been lost had a personnel named Furman Ali not shouted out a warning.
A video shared by the BRO shows work underway to cut a road out of sheer rock on a mountain face.
Several workers rushed to safety after hearing Ali’s warning.
Another personnel, named Charanjit Sarkar, also succeeds in bringing back the tracked equipment being used to drill into the rock.
Barely moments after that, a portion of the rock face comes hurtling down, exactly at the spot where the BRO personnel were working. They were part of the 762 Border Roads Task Force of Project Vijayak.
The BRO has made special mention of Ali and Sarkar and pointed to how alertness pays off in challenging terrain.
“The two displayed exemplary alertness during formation cutting work. On detecting signs of an impending landslide, Ali promptly raised the alarm, while Sarkar swiftly moved the drilling equipment to safety,” the BRO has said.
“Their presence of mind averted a potential mishap. The Director General of Border Roads (Lieutenant General Harpal Singh) commended both karmayogis for their courage and timely action. BRO is proud of its karmayogis, whose alertness and dedication safeguard lives even in the most challenging terrain,” it said.
Project Vijayak is named after Operation Vijay of 1999, during which Indian armed forces recaptured the Kargil heights from the Pakistan Army.
Apart from building and maintaining connectivity for the armed forces deployed along the Line of Control, Project Vijayak was entrusted with two strategically important lines of communication in the Western Indus Corridor.
These are the Zojila-Kargil-Leh and the Nimmu-Padam-Darcha axises. These were previously under Project Himank.
Subsequent to realignment of project boundaries, roads and airfields in the Western Shyok Corridor and Nubra Corridor (Siachen Glacier) also came under Project Vijayak.
At present, Project Vijayak is in charge of building and maintenance of nearly 1,400 km of high-altitude roads and 80 major bridges.
“The teams are constantly working to create new roads for easier access to strategic locations. In several places, they are cutting through rocks to create roads. This is where absolute vigil is necessary,” an official said.
–IANS
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