Narendra Modi has inaugurated Manali-Leh Tunnel on October 3, 2020. The world’s longest underground highway will play a significant role in giving a boost to India’s border infrastructure. The 9 km long tunnel will link Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley. Institution of the Atal Tunnel at Rohtang is great news for residents of Lahaul-Spiti especially during the winters when the entire district is covered with snow and road connectivity gets fractured.
The historic decision to build a strategic tunnel under the Rohtang pass was taken by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in June 2000. The Atal Tunnel is a strategically important construction and is expected to give a major boost to tourism in Lahaul-Spiti, thus creating employment opportunities.
It has some high tech installations such as an air quality monitor at every km, telephone connections at every 150 meter in case of emergency, etc.
INTERESTING FACTS TO KNOW ABOUT THE ATAL TUNNEL- THE WORLD’S LONGEST UNDERGROUND HIGHWAY
- Escape tunnels are built separately along the main tunnel globally. It is the country’s very first tunnel to have an escape tunnel within the main tunnel because of the topography.
- It is also the first tunnel to deploy the Rowa flyer technology, which allows engineers to work at inverted levels.
- The 9-Km long Atal Tunnel will connect Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley round the year.
- Atal Tunnel will decrease the travel time by four to five hours and the road distance by 46 km between Manali and Leh.
- Atal Tunnel is built at an altitude of 3000 meters (10,000 feet) above mean sea level with extremely-modern details in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas.
- The tunnel-roadway is 8 metres with an overhead clearance of 5.525 metres. It is 10.5-metre wide and has a 3.6 x 2.25-metre fireproof emergency exit tunnel in the main tunnel.
- Atal Tunnel is designed for traffic density of up to 3000 cars per day and 1500 trucks per day with a max pace of 80 km/hr.
- The 9-km long Manali-Leh took a time of 10 years for its completion with an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crore.
- Atal Tunnel has entry barriers at both portals. It has an auto incident detection system with CCTV cameras installed at every 250 metres.
- The tunnel will facilitate all-weather connectivity to remote border areas of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.
- The Atal Tunnel has the facility of a fire hydrant at every 60 metres, an emergency exit on every 500 metres, a turning cavity at every 2.2 km, evacuation lighting, and a broadcasting system.
- The tunnel took 14,508 metric tonnes of steel; 2,37,596 metric tonnes of cement and the new Austrian tunnelling technique for construction.
- On December 24, 2019, the central government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi took the decision to name the Rohtang tunnel as Atal Tunnel in order to honour former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 95th birth anniversary.
Source: India Today
