Indian Prime Minister Inaugurates The World’s Longest Tunnel

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated Atal Tunnel in Manali. It is the“world’s longest highway” tunnel and is named Atal Tunnel, Rohtang. The 9.02 kilometres long engineering marvel connects Manali in Himachal Pradesh to Lahaul-Spiti throughout the year. Currently, the area remains cut off for about 6 months each year owing to heavy snowfall and inclement weather. The Atal tunnel has huge strategic significance as it will greatly assist in the movement of armed forces.

The tunnel cuts through a mountain west of the Rohtang La and will now shorten the distance between the two points by around 46 km. What was a nearly 4 hour will now take around 15 minutes. The double-laned tunnel can handle around 3,000 cars and 1,500 trucks per day, with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.

PM Modi said, “Atal tunnel will give new strength to India’s border infrastructure. It is an example of world-class border connectivity. There have been demands to improve border infrastructure but for a long time, such projects either couldn’t get out of the planning stage or got stuck midway. Connectivity has a direct connection with development. Connectivity in border areas is directly related to security issues.”

The tunnel has been named after former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The construction, which used 15,000 tonnes of steel, took nearly a decade and cost around Rs 3,200 crore. It was scheduled to be completed by May 2020, but was delayed by a few months due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, residents of Lahaul are hoping that its inauguration will give a fresh impetus to tourism and winter sports in Lahaul. According to the state tourism department data, Lahaul-Spiti district records the least tourist footfall among the 12 districts of the state. In 2018, 1.33 lakh tourists visited the district while more than 30 lakh did so in neighbouring Kullu.

Atal Tunnel or the Rohtang tunnel has been built in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas. The tunnel is located at an altitude of 10,000 Feet from the Mean Sea Level (MSL). The tunnel is set to reduce road distance by 46 kilometres between Leh and Manali in India.