Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated five development projects worth around ₹3,350 crore in Ladakh through video conferencing, announcing what the Centre has described as a comprehensive development package for the Union Territory. The Prime Minister had announced the event on X a day earlier, on October 14.
The ceremony began at around 11 am, with Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Vinai Kumar Saxena joining the proceedings from Leh. Functions were organised simultaneously across all seven districts of Ladakh to mark the occasion.
At the centre of the package is the new Passenger Terminal Building at Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport in Leh. Built by the Airports Authority of India at a cost of over ₹600 crore, the three-level terminal spans roughly 23,000 square metres and raises the airport’s handling capacity from 18 to up to 54 flights per day — a near threefold jump that is expected to ease the chronic congestion the Leh airport faces during the tourist season and give a major push to connectivity with the rest of the country.
Also inaugurated was the 298-kilometre Nimmu–Padum–Darcha road, built by the Border Roads Organisation through the Zanskar Valley. The road links Nimmu in Leh to Darcha in Himachal Pradesh, opening an alternative corridor to Ladakh beyond the existing Srinagar–Leh and Manali–Leh routes. For a region that has historically depended on just two road arteries for much of the year, the new corridor is strategically significant — it provides redundancy for civilian movement, supplies and defence logistics in a border region.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the 9 MW Hanu Small Hydroelectric Project along with the 66 kV Dah–Hanu–Khaltsi transmission line, a step aimed at strengthening power supply in the remote belt. In a first for the country, Modi inaugurated India’s first Petroglyph Conservation Park at Sindhu Ghat in Leh, a facility dedicated to the preservation of ancient rock carvings found across the region.
Rounding out the package is the inauguration of 40 water bodies across 40 villages under Project Amrit Him Sarovar, an initiative aimed at water security in the high-altitude desert region where glacier-dependent water sources are under mounting pressure.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the projects would “strengthen connectivity, boost development, preserve the rich heritage and improve the quality of life of the people.”
The inauguration comes at a time when the Centre has been signalling a sustained development push in border regions, with connectivity infrastructure — airports, roads and power — being positioned as the backbone of that strategy. For Ladakh, which became a separate Union Territory in 2019, the package represents one of the largest single-day project inaugurations the region has seen.
