Shimla: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated Atal Tunnel in Rohtang, which is the highest altitude tunnel in the world and has strategic significance.
The 9.02 km long tunnel connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. Earlier the road remained impacted for about six months every year owing to 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).
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Brigadier (retd) Khushal Thakur, a Kargil war veteran, said that this tunnel is very important from a strategic point of view.
He said that it's a great gift for the countrymen and the soldiers deployed along the Indo-China border.
"The enemy always blocked the way to Srinagar, Leh and Kargil. Due to this, we had to suffer a lot but now with the opening of the tunnel, the distance between Leh and Kargil will also be reduced and a lot of time will also be saved," Brig Thakur said.
He further said that it also reduces the road distance by 46 km between Manali and Leh and the time by about four to five hours. The hard work put in by Border Roads Organisation in the last 10 years is reaching the final stage.
It is to be mention here that the tunnel has ample safety features built into it including telephone connections at every 150 metres for emergency communication, fire hydrant mechanisms at every 60 Metres, auto incident detection system with CCTV cameras at every 250 metres, air quality monitoring at every one Km, evacuation lighting/exit signs and broadcasting system throughout the tunnel among others.
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