On Monday, Jagat Prakash Nadda, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will inspect the Atal tunnel in Himachal Pradesh. On Sunday, Nadda arrived in the state and met with BJP workers in Bilaspur.
Nadda will attend a party meeting in Kullu-Manali in addition to inspecting the high-altitude tunnel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the tunnel last year. It is 25 kilometres from Manali and sits at a height of 3,060 metres.
In the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas, the 9.02-kilometer-long tunnel was built to ultra-modern specifications. The distance between Leh and Manali has been reduced by 46 kilometres, and the travel time has been reduced by four to five hours.
Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded that the Atal tunnel’s foundation plaque bearing the name of party president Sonia Gandhi be reinstalled. Sanjay Dutt, the secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), threatened to protest if this was not done.
Despite the assurances, the state government did not reinstall the plaque, according to Dutt.
On June 28, 2010, Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone for the Rohtang Tunnel project in Dhoondi, Manali, according to the Congress.
The tunnel, according to Dutt, was a gift from the then-Congress-led UPA government.
Originally named Rohtang Tunnel, it was renamed Atal Tunnel on December 25, 2019, in honour of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
