Many of the labourers who build roads across the mountains in Ladakh are migrants from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand; they work from May to mid-October in extremely difficult high-altitude terrain.

Jiten Murmu (left) from Bihar, with a co-worker, waiting outside their tent near Chilling village for lunch to arrive from another camp site. The canvas tents barely protect the workers during the cold nights. They camp by the roadside and follow the road works as they advance.

The high-altitude roads in Ladakh are mostly built by manual labour – heavy equipment is sparse. The workers have hardly any safety gear, and use cloth, not masks, to cover their faces against the massive dust. They carry heavy loads on their backs at high altitudes in the low-oxygen air, and have to sit down to catch their breath every now and then.

Prakash Singh from Bihar observing the construction of the Leh-Nimo-Chilling-Padum highway.

Pema brings her three-year-old son Ngodup to work. They live near Lukung village, close to Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh. A few Ladakhi families also work along with the migrants to build the roads.

Using a drilling rig, a worker is widening the road in a mountain around 50 kilometres from the famous Lamayuru monastery – inhaling dust constantly in thin air where it can anyway get difficult to breathe.

Workers building walls in an area which is prone to landslides.

Bir Bahadur is from Nepal. Every summer, he comes to Ladakh for six months to build roads. This time, a contractor from Chandigarh gave him this job. He stays in a tent along with five other workers from Nepal.

Phone number of team leader written on a blackboard as an emergency contact number.

Migrant workers are keeping themselves warm in a windy September afternoon. Sometimes daytime temperature falls as low as 5'c or 6'c.

Santosh Topno, from Jharkhand, was working on building a bridge near Chumathang, and taking a short break .

Migrant workers having lunch inside a tent at Chushul village, about an hour’s drive from Leh. Lunch break lasts for an hour. The food is basic, barely adequate for the harsh climate – rice, dal and some vegetables cooked on a stove in their tents.

Most of the workers don't have access to clean and safe drinking water. Drinking water kept in open barrels which previously used for carrying liquid material.

The road between Kiari and Mahe bridge viaChumathang gets damaged whenever the Indus cuts through it at different places. Since it’s a crucial route for army movement, workers are called in to fix the road.

Bhakat Ram is a 53-year-old worker from Koderma district in Jharkhand. He earns Rs. 400 a day, and has been coming here for four years. He dislikes the work conditions and says he does not want to return next year.

Sneak peak makeshift living area of high altitude road workers.

Hamid Ansari, 32, is from Ranchi district in Jharkhand. He completed his contract period on October 10 and was waiting for transportation near Tso Moriri to return to Leh.

Two workers from Jharkhand walk towards their tent close to the Magnetic Hill as the day ends.