BRO constitutes ‘Yojak’ for road infra in high altitudes

The Border Roads Organization (BRO), has constituted a new project "Yojak" to build more tunnels like Atal Tunnel and maintain the connecting roads. Yojak will not only be responsible for building high-altitude traffic tunnels on Manali-Ladakh axis but also will acquire major roads for maintenance that can be up to 500km in length. Yojak is going to be a major venture which would have many road construction companies working under its jurisdiction. Roads, especially connecting Shinku Pass, will be handed over to Yojak. The current headquarter of the project is in Manali but is expected to shift to Lahaul in the near future.

Yojak project's Chief Engineer Jitendra Prasad informed that the Atal tunnel is now under Yojak and the next focus is on building the tunnel below Shinku-la pass of about 4 to 5km in length. The tunnel will be located at a higher altitude than Atal tunnel. The DPR of the tunnel project is in its final stages and the digging of the tunnel will start this year itself. The roads connecting the tunnel will also be acquired by Project Yojak. The government is giving top priority to complete the tunnel so that people of Ladakh get year-round connectivity as quickly as possible.