NEW DELHI, Oct 3: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the World’s longest Highway tunnel – Atal Tunnel at its south portal in Manali on Saturday.
The 9.02 Km long tunnel connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. Earlier the valley was cut off for about 6 months each year owing to heavy snowfall.
The Tunnel is built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 metres (10,000 Feet) from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).
The tunnel reduces the road distance by 46 kilometres between Manali and Leh and the time by about 4 to 5 hours.
It has state of the art electromechanical systems including semi transverse ventilation, SCADA controlled fire-fighting, illumination and monitoring systems. The Tunnel has ample safety features built into it. Modi travelled in the tunnel from the South Portal to the North Portal and also visited the emergency egress tunnel for evacuating people in emergency situations that was built into the main tunnel itself. He also witnessed a pictorial exhibition on “The Making of Atal Tunnel” on the occasion.
In his address, Modi termed the day as historic as it not only fructify the vision of the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee but also the decades old wish and dream of crores of people from the region.
He said Atal Tunnel would become a lifeline for a large part of Himachal Pradesh as well as the new Union Territory of Leh-Ladakh and would reduce the time distance between Manali and Keylong by 3-4 hours.
He added that now parts of Himachal Pradesh and Leh-Ladakh would always remain connected with the rest of the country and would witness speedier economic progress.
He said farmers, horticulturalists and youth would now also have easy access to the capital of Delhi and other markets.
The Prime Minister said that such border connectivity projects would also aid the security forces in ensuring regular supplies to them and also in their patrolling.
The Prime Minister lauded the efforts of the engineers, technicians and workers who risked their lives in making this dream come true.
He said Atal Tunnel would give new strength to India’s border infrastructure and would be a living proof of world-class border connectivity. He said despite the longstanding demand to improve the infrastructure and overall development of the border areas, plans were made only to languish for decades without any progress.
He said infrastructure should be developed at a fast pace when the country needed to progress economically and socially. He said the delay in the completion of such important and major infrastructure projects, the foundation stone of which was paid way back in 2002, cause financial losses and deprives people of economic and social benefits,
He said in 2005, the estimated cost for the construction of the tunnel was about Rs. 900 crores. But due to continuous delays, today it had been completed after spending more than 3 times about Rs 3200 crores.
The Prime Minister said taking care of the needs of the security forces of the country is one of the highest priorities of the government. But this was also compromised earlier and the interests of the country’s defence forces were compromised.
The Prime Minister said major reforms such as relaxation of FDI in Defence manufacture have been made so as to produce modern weapons and ammunition in the country itself. He added that to match the rising global stature of India, the country has to improve its infrastructure, its economic and strategic potential at the same speed.
The Prime Minister said the Atal Tunnel was a shining example of the country’s resolve to become “AatmaNirbhar (Self Reliant).”
(Manas Dasgupta)