New Delhi: The Border Roads Organization (BRO) on Saturday opened the strategically important Leh-Manali Highway (NH 3) in a record time of 138 days, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Leh-Manali Highway is a 427 km long strategic highway connecting Ladakh to the rest of India via Manali, having strategic importance for the movement of the armed forces and their supplies to forward areas in Ladakh, as well as connecting the people of Ladakh to India.

The highway is an alternate route to the 422 km long Srinagar-Kargil-Leh Highway (NH-1D) which was opened by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in 16 March 2023.

BRO also opened the mighty Shinkula Pass located at 16,580 ft in Nimmu-Padum-Darch road in a record time of 55 days, on 23 March 2023, the ministry said.

The Leh-Manali highway generally remains closed from November end with the onset of winter till it is opened in March.

The entire 427 km road has been cleared of snow by BRO frontline Project Himank in Ladakh and Project Deepak in Himachal Pradesh.

These challenging operations commenced from two extremities of the road by two different teams comprising skilled manpower and state-of-the-art machines, the statement said.

As the two snow clearance teams converge at a common point in Sarchu, Himachal Pradesh, a ‘Golden Handshake’ ceremony was organized there to declare the highway open, it added.