But for local drivers, this is not enough. On September this year, hundreds of members of the West Kameng and Tawang units of the All-Arunachal Pradesh Public Transport Federation, along with students unions, taxi unions and social organisations, staged a dharna at several BRO offices. This was followed by a 12-hour bandh. The federation is demanding “systematic road-broadening work” and timely completion of the Balipara-Bomdi La-Tawang road. Several memorandums have been submitted by the district administrations, panchayats and the transport federation. “It is high time the BRO completed the widening of road and created a motorable road. It has been more than 12 years and the roads have become worse than what they were 12 years ago,”says Lobsang Chodup, president of the Tawang unit of the transport federation. Thousands of vehicles have ended up in garages with damaged engines, broken gearboxes, and hole-ridden chambers because of the unsystematic manner in which work is being undertaken by the BRO. According to data collated by the federation, at last count, 106 persons had died in 127 accidents on the Bhalukpong-Bomdi La-Se La stretch, while 237 others were seriously injured on non-motorable stretches of the road. Bomdi La is some 7,700 feet above sea level, and rescue and road-clearing efforts can be dangerous even when there’s no work on. “Earlier, when it was a single-lane highway, we used to cover the distance from Tawang to Tezpur in 7-8 hours. Ever since this construction has begun, we have no option but to stop overnight at Bomdi La,” says Lalit Tamang, who has been ferrying locals and tourists since 2000. R. Dasgupta, Lalit’s friend and fellow driver, who also works for the army on contract, says, “We live on these roads. I learnt how to drive on this very route. In the name of developing the route, if this is what we have to bear, we were better off underdeveloped. At least we could take more trips and make more money.”