Border Roads official gets Guinness recognition for building world's highest motorable road

(Source: Twitter/ANI)

New Delhi: Rajeev Chaudhry, the Director General Border Roads (DGBR), on Tuesday received the Guinness World Record certificate for constructing and blacktopping the world’s highest motorable road, the Defence Ministry announced. The road was built at Umlingla Pass in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

As per a PIB release, the 52-kilometre long Chisumle to Demchok tarmac road passes through the 19,024 feet high Umlingla Pass and betters the previous record of a road in Bolivia, which connects volcano Uturuncu at 18,953 feet.

The Umlingla Pass road is another landmark in resurgent India’s achievement as it has been constructed at an altitude higher than the North and South Base Camps of Mount Everest which are at an altitude of 16,900 feet and 17,598 feet respectively, the release added. 

According to PIB, the honour was conferred to him in a virtual ceremony by Shri Rishi Nath, the official adjudicator of the Guinness World Records based in the United Kingdom. Nath also acknowledged the remarkable achievement of BRO for constructing the highest altitude road in the world.

The Guinness World Records verified the claim of construction by five different surveyors in a four-month-long process, informed PIB.

During the ceremony, General Rajeev Chaudhry talked about the challenges like altitude and temperatures he combated during the course of construction.  

He said that the hurdles tested both the human spirit and efficacy of machines as it was an extremely tough terrain where temperatures in winters dip to -40 degrees and oxygen levels are 50 per cent below normal.         

The newly constructed role will add to the development of the otherwise remote and under-connected area of the Umlinga pass.