The only road available as line of communication for operations in Keming Division was road Tezpur-Misamari-Foot Hills-Rupa-Tenga valley and from there to Bomdila-Dirang Dzong upto Sela (4,198m) down to Nuranang-Jang and Towang. This was a fair weather class 9 road passing through some very difficult terrain. In the dry weather the road was dusty with sharp hairpin bends, steep inclines with overhanging rocks at many places. The culverts were
un-metalled and in places half built with wooden trestles. In the rains the road quickly became a quagmire and deeply rutted; any vehicle having got into one of the ruts had to move in it for long distances before it could come out of it .The frame of the vehicle particularly the suspension and steering system were subjected to severe stress and strains.
Tenga valley
On this line of communication it was not a question of steady climb in elevation but the road was like a roller coaster starting at an elevation of 305m at the Foot Hills, climbing up to Eagles Nest (2,837m) in a distance of 62 kms down to Tenga Valley (1,367m) over 39 kms. From here the road climbed to Bomdila (2,379m) over a distance of 21 kms. Bomdila to Sappers Camp (1,830m) a distance of 53 kms was comparatively easy except for land slides in places which made it difficult to negotiate without Engineer effort and assistance of dozers and recovery vehicles. Sapper Camp to Sela (4,198m) a distance of 41 kms was a hard climb with sharp bends some of which could only be negotiated by reversing the vehicle once or twice- a difficult operation even on best of the hill roads.
Approach to Sela
The approach to Sela was under improvement and paved by boulders. From Sela the road dropped to Nuronang (4,117m) over a distance of 8 kms. From here, there was down hill drive to Jang (2,502m) with twenty-seven hairpin bends in about 9 kms requiring the reversing of vehicles to negotiate each bend. The road to Towang crossed Twang Chu (river) over a wooden bridge of 27m span. . From here onwards, the road to Towang a distance of nearly 37 kms, was over a mud flat deeply rutted; calling for considerable skill and patience on the part of the vehicle drivers as well necessitating assistance from dozers and recovery vehicles to force the passage. Many vehicles stalled and burnt their clutches on this stretch of the road.
Freezing cold
Temperature varied from the very hot and humid climate of the tropical forests of the foothills to the freezing cold of Sela and the wind swept funnel of Nuranang where the wind chill factor constantly kept the temperature extremely low: a bottle of beer had to be thawed even at mid day with the sun shining bright overhead.
Mule pack
In the plains the road meandered through paddy fields with extremely soft berms requiring constant maintenance. Due to narrow roads overtaking of vehicles was not possible except at a few places. Movement away from the centre of the road invariably resulted in vehicles getting in the slush and at places where the road was elevated called for recovery assistance. Movement beyond Tawang had to be on foot and mule pack.
(Extract from History of Corps of EME)
Fwd by Brig Lakshman Singh, VSM (Retd)
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