New Delhi, 09 February: The 9 km long strategic Atal Tunnel, built at a height of about 10 thousand 171 feet near Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, entered the ‘World Book of Records’ on Wednesday.
Indian Representative Dr Diwakar Sukul, President, WBR London handed over the certificate of the world’s longest highway tunnel to the Director General of Border Roads (DGBR) Lt Gen Rajeev Choudhary today.
Atal Tunnel was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 03, 2020. It has been named ‘Atal Rohtang Tunnel’ in memory of former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
This is the world’s first tunnel in terms of height, due to which India’s strength has increased on the Pakistan-China border. When the construction started, it was designed as an 8.8 km long tunnel but when the GPS readings were taken at the completion of the construction, the length of the tunnel was 9 km.
This 9 meter wide tunnel has been built by connecting it to Rohtang Pass at a height of 10,171 feet. With its introduction, the distance between Manali and Leh has been reduced by 46 kilometres.
Earlier the journey from Manali Valley to Lahaul and Spiti which usually took more than five hours is now being completed in less than 10 minutes. This tunnel is also an alternate route to reach Rohtang Pass situated at an altitude of 13 thousand 50 feet.
Built in the Pir Panjal mountain range of the Himalayas, this tunnel also has an emergency passage, which is built under the main tunnel. A telephone every 150 metres, a fire hydrant every 60 metres, an emergency exit every 500 metres, a cave every 2.2km, every one kilometer in the tunnel.
Air quality monitoring system, broadcast system with CCTV cameras at every 250 meters and automatic incident detection system have been installed.
The Border Roads Organization (BRO) has built this tunnel in the shape of a horseshoe at a cost of about Rs 4,000 crore.
Since the inauguration of Atal Tunnel, tourism activities have witnessed a jump of 622% thereby ushering in a new era of development and socio-economic development in the region.
Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen Rajeev Choudhary said that this event officially seals our supremacy and also testifies to our extraordinary abilities, of which every Indian should feel proud.
He highlighted the various unimaginable difficulties faced during tunnel construction and how the tunnel has changed the socio-economic dynamics of the entire region. He appreciated the efforts of officers of all ranks associated with this prestigious project. He said that at present the BRO is constructing the Sela and Nechifu Tunnels at a record breaking speed and both the projects will be dedicated to the nation soon
