Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district. All they want is to catch a glimpse of a 150-year-old wooden bridge that was in ruins for nearly 60 years after the 1962 India-China war. It has now been renovated and opened for tourists.
“We have seen the photos of the bridge on social media. It is amazing and surprising to build such a bridge between rocky snow-capped mountains. When I planned the trip to Gangotri with my family, visiting Gartang Gali was on the list,” said Mukesh Singh, who had come to visit the iconic Gartang Gali from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The local people call it a chor rasta (passage of thieves).
Despite the national park gates being shut, some of the tourists climbed over the boundary to see the bridge. They shared tales of the bridge’s storied past and its breathtaking beauty.
Its delicate silhouette is a striking contrast to the rugged grandeur of its surroundings.
The centuries-old wooden bridge in Nelong Valley is located on the ancient Indo-Tibet Silk Road trade route. After the war, the passage fell into disrepair, and portions of the bridge had collapsed.
It opened again for the public in 2021 after the completion of a restoration project that began in 2020. It was part of the Modi government’s push for border tourism.
Now, Gartang Gali is a popular tourist destination in Uttarakhand. Every year, more than 5,000 people visit the site, said forest officials.
“I have seen it in a dilapidated situation since my childhood. The renovation was like a dream come true. It gives us hope and shows that the government hasn’t forgotten the Nelong valley people,” said 67-year-old Bhagwan Singh Rana, resident of Jadung village in the valley.
Once a thriving trade route between India and Tibet, the bridge was built by Afghan merchants known as Peshawari Pathans in the mid-19th century. For around eight decades, commodities like wool, opium, spices, gold, and salt were traded along this route.
Soon, the once famous trade route was deserted, and only the Army had access to it.
Talks of its renovation began in 2017. The public works department started work in 2020 for Rs 65 lakh.
“It was very challenging to renovate this bridge at such a height, given the extreme weather and high-velocity winds,” said Mayur Dixit, then district magistrate of Uttarkashi.
Labourers were suspended 11,000 feet in the air with ropes and were under the tight security of the Uttarkashi administration.
“On two patches—one of 12m and the other of 24m—Gartang Gali acts as a bridge, and everywhere else it is a pathway created by chiselling hard stone,” said Rajpal Bisht, the contractor who executed the restoration work.
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