Indian Army convoy passes through newly-built Atal Tunnel - Watch

In a first, a convoy of Indian Army passed through the newly-built Atal Tunnel near Manali in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday (October 7). The 9.02-km-long Atal Tunnel has become the newest attraction for tourists visiting the state. The tunnel connects Lahaul of Lahaul-Spiti district and Manali of Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh. 

It is to be noted that Atal Tunnel is the world’s longest highway tunnel and it is a strategically important structure as it cut short the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km, which means the travel time will be slashed by as much as five hours. Atal Tunnel has been built at a cost of over Rs 3,000 crore. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Atal Tunnel on October 3 and during the inauguration he had accused the Congress of compromising the defence interests of the country for a long time.

“Nothing is more important for us than the defence of the country. But for a long time, the country has also witnessed an era when the defence interests of the country were compromised. The Air Force of the country kept demanding a modern fighter plane, while they kept opening and closing files after files, and kept playing around with those files,” the prime minister said after inaugurating the tunnel.

The tunnel is built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 Mtrs (10,000 Feet) from the Mean Sea Level (MSL). ​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.