Nelang


Nelang or Nilang river valley containing a small eponymous village, part of Jadh Ganga valley of the Himalayas, in the Uttarkashi District of Uttarakhand state of India is close to the disputed Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control. This disputed area, entirely held by India, is also claimed by China as part of Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture of Tibet. It is reachable by a fork road from the NH-34.
Some of the villages near Nelang village are Dhumku in the west, and Jadhang and Pulam Sumda in the northeast, all of which lie in the Jadh Ganga valley.

Geography

The Jadh Ganga, an important tributary of the Bhagirathi River, flows through a narrow gorge flanked by steep cliffs. The gorge is called Jadh Ganga valley, and part of this valley near Nelang is called Nelang Valley.

Uttarkashi to Nelang-Naga

; Uttarkashi to Nelang-Naga India–China LAC route:
NH-34 from Uttarkashi city in the south to Bhaironghati in the north via Harsil is 90 km and runs along the Bhagirathi River in the Bhagirathi valley. The Bhagirathi River and its tributary Jadh Ganga converge at Bhaironghati. The limits of the Jadh Ganga valley and Jadh Ganga river are Bhaironghati in the southwest and Naga in the northeast. A 32–km–long road along the Jadh Ganga river in the Jadh Ganga valley runs from Bhaironghati to Naga via Dhumku, Hawa Bend, Pagal Nala, Hindoli Ghat, Nelang village, Mana a bridge over the Jadhang River, and finally reaches Naga ~6 km east of Nelang.

Naga road forks

; Naga - road forks into the following two directions, north along Jadh Ganga River and east along Nilapani River :
At Naga, where the road forks into two, is the confluence of two tributaries of the Jadh Ganga, the Jadhang River which originates from a glacier near Sumla/Pulam Sumda in the north and the Nilapani River which originates from a glacier north of Mana Pass to the east. Mana Pass is not reachable via this road as this route lies to the north of the mountain and glacier, which blocks it from the pass in the south.

ICBRs by BRO

NHAI is responsible for maintaining NH-34, which travels to Bhaironghati and Gangotri. The rest of the motorable
roads to Sumla/Pulam Sumda and Mana Pass at the LAC have been constructed by India's Border Roads Organisation under phase-I of India-China Border Roads.

History

Indo-Tibetan silk route

Salt and silk were historically traded on this silk route. Pathan traders supposedly paid for the construction of this stairway in the 17th century. It was also a lesser known secret route of Hindu-Buddhist yatra to Mount Kailash.

Territorial dispute

The valley of the Jadh Ganga is also claimed by China.

Gartang Gali stairway

The Gartang Gali cliff-side hanging-stairway or Gartang Gali bridge, a 500-metre-long narrow wooden stairway hanging on the side of a vertical ridge at a height of 11,000 feet, lies in the narrow Nelang river valley of Jadh Ganga river canyon. After cutting a narrow horizontal U-shaped passage on the side of the monolithic cliff, the wooden structure was built inside it in the traditional native style. It offers great views of the Nelang valley and its ecology. It was initially supposedly constructed by the Pathan from Peshawar hired by the local traders. Gartang Gali, a narrow and steep gorge, was once used as a Silk Road trade route between Tibet and India. After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, access to the area was prohibited by the Indian military, and consequently the bridge fell into disrepair. In 2015, after India opened these areas for tourism, the wooden stairway was repaired in the native traditional style and reopened in August 2021 after a gap of 59 years.

Culture

Nelang and Jadhang villages are inhabited by the Jadh Bhutia tribe, who practice both Hinduism and Buddhism. During the 1962 Sino-Indian War, India evacuated these villages.