PM Opens Rs 3,350 Crore Ladakh Projects by Video Link

Ladakh gained five completed works on 15 October 2026, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and dedicated projects costing about Rs 3,350 crore through video conferencing. The set covers travel, electricity, water and heritage, and the Prime Minister thanked the engineers, workers and Border Roads Organisation personnel who built them in hard terrain, recalling the crowds waving the Tricolour in Zanskar through fresh snowfall.

The new airport terminal at Leh

The Kushok Bakula Rinpoche Airport terminal in Leh, built at a cost of 650 crore rupees, triples the flights the airport can take and raises yearly passenger handling from 10 lakh to 35 lakh. It is the first terminal in the country to warm itself with geothermal heat alongside solar power, a choice made for the cold desert climate.

Road, power and water

The Nimmu-Padum-Darcha road, worth 2,500 crore rupees, cuts a journey of 12 hours down to about 3 hours and opens a fresh trade corridor. The Prime Minister also dedicated the Hanu hydroelectric project with its transmission network, and spoke of power generation work in Puga Valley. Forty new reservoirs built under Project Amrit Him Sarovar were handed over, meant to hold irrigation water for farmers when the sowing season needs it. In Leh he opened the country's first Petroglyph Conservation Park to protect ancient rock art.

How Ladakh has changed since 2019

Since Ladakh became a Union Territory in 2019, the Prime Minister said, roads have grown from 1,800 kilometres to over 4,000 kilometres, major bridges from 19 to nearly 75, helipads from 7 to more than 40, and tap water from 3.5 per cent of households to nearly 99 per cent, while hospital beds have doubled. The Zojila Tunnel under construction will give all-weather connectivity.

Jobs, study and crafts

Homestays have risen from roughly 150 to 3,000 and the region now has 11,000 greenhouses. More than 40 border villages are being upgraded under the Vibrant Villages programme. A Centre of Excellence is coming up in Leh, with satellite campuses of IIT Jammu and IIM Jammu proposed, and a High Court Bench for Ladakh was approved in August this year. Pashmina woven by the Changpa community, sea-buckthorn and GI-tagged apricots are being pushed into wider markets.