Atal Tunnel: PM Modi opens tunnel route to tense China border, attacks Congress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the strategically important all-weather Atal Tunnel, at Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh. He blamed Congress for the delay in border infrastructure development.

Atal Tunnel, which reduces the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours, built by the Border Roads Organisation, is the longest highway tunnel in the world.

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The 9.02-km tunnel connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. The valley was earlier cut off for about six months every year due to heavy snowfall.

The project will be a major relief to armed forces for quick troop movement to Ladakh amid heightened tensions between India and China. The work began in 2010 during the UPA regime.

After inaugurating the tunnel, the PM launched an attack on the Congress, saying India's defence interests were compromised under its rule and asserted nothing is more important to his government than protecting the country.

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The PM cited a number of strategically important projects, from Atal Tunnel to the airstrip at Daulat Beg Oldi in Ladakh and Tejas fighter aircraft production, which he said were delayed under the UPA rule, to substantiate his arguments.

"I can talk about dozens of projects that are important strategically, but for years they were neglected," he said, hitting out at the previous Congress-led governments.

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"We have put our entire energy in developing our border infrastructure. The country hasn't seen roads, bridges and tunnels built at this scale," the prime minister said after inaugurating the tunnel Saturday.

"Besides locals, this (infrastructure) will also hugely benefit the men and women in our army," Modi added.

New Delhi hopes such projects will promote tourism and spur economic activity.

Also Read | PM Modi inaugurates strategic Atal Tunnel, says it'll strengthen border infrastructure

"Nothing more important to us than the national interest and protecting the country, but the nation has seen an era when defence interests were compromised," he said, in an apparent swipe at the opposition party.

Claiming that his government has deployed all its might to develop border infrastructure, the PM said earlier, border projects remained either planning stage or in the backburner.

He said only 1,300 meters were completed by 2013-14, and at that speed, the project would have been completed by 2040. "Our government increased the pace of construction from 300 meters/year to 1,400 meters/year and completed it," he said.

In just six years the government completed the work of 26 years, he said. He referred to the Kosi mega-bridge in Bihar envisaged by the Vajpayee government and inaugurated by him last month.