A view of Rohtang tunnel. File Photo

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Kullu, October 4

Residents of tribal district Lahaul Spiti are eagerly awaiting the moment when BRO will connect both portals of 8.8-km-long  Rohtang tunnel which will provide all-weather connectivity to the people with the rest of the state. They are planning to throw up big celebration and rejoice the achievement as the ambitious project suffered several delays over the years.On their part, BRO authorities have declined to disclose the details of the completion of digging work of the Rohtang tunnel. The BRO personnel are working relentlessly to connect both the portals of the tunnel by the end of this month. Merely 60 m digging work remains to be done.Rigzin Samphel Heyreppa, a resident of Lahaul, said that it would be a great moment for people of this tribal district, who face immense hardship availing transportation facilities during winter season for at least six months, when mighty Rohtang Pass receives heavy snowfall at the advent of winter. The mighty Rohtang is considered gateway to Lahaul Spiti.“Every year people of this district suffer in emergency situation when they fail to transport patients (their near and dear one) in time out of the district to provide medical relief. The remote district is bereft of adequate health facilities. Due to lack of transportation facility in time, many patients even lose their lives”, he remarked.It was expected that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will join the event, when BRO completes the tunnel digging work.Chander Mohan Parsheera of Lahaul Spiti said the tunnel should be named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his childhood friend Arjun Gopal of this tribal district. They played a vital role in the execution of the project.The project suffered several delays due to extreme tough weather and other inhospitable conditions. The project was then rescheduled for completion in the year 2015 but this time water ingress in Seri Nullah in the region hampered the digging work drastically.The BRO authority has now set the target to hand over the tunnel to the nation in year 2019. Once completed, the passage will help accelerate troop mobility to the strategic frontiers in Jammu and Kashmir besides providing a road link to Lahaul and Spiti in winter. This will give tremendous boost to tourism in the hitherto unexplored areas of Lahaul Spiti.The estimated cost of the project in 2010 was Rs 1,700 crore. It was revised to Rs 2,000 crore in 2015 and now the projected cost by 2019 is Rs 4,000 crore.