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Special bus service started via under- constructed Rohtang tunnel
A trial bus service carrying 44 passengers entered the under-construction Rohtang tunnel on Sunday from South Portal and alighted the passengers at North Portal
Even as the strategic Rohtang tunnel project envisaged at providing all-weather connectivity is running six years behind schedule, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has given its nod to state-owned Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) to run a special bus service through the tunnel during the winter months, when the valley remains cut off due to snow.
The 13,050 feet-high Rohtang pass—the gateway to tribal Lahaul and Spiti district—was closed for traffic on Friday following heavy snowfall. Every year, the pass on the Manali-Leh highway remains closed for vehicular traffic for almost six months and is thrown open in June.
Facing winter hardships, the residents of the tribal district are dependent on helicopter services run by the state government to cross the snow-bound Rohtang pass. But this service is also heavily dependent on weather conditions, since it has to fly over the 13,050 feet-high pass under inclement weather conditions.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur had urged the defence ministry to allow a bus service through the tunnel during the winter months. The bus service will run between South Portal in Solang Nullah in Kullu district near Manali to North Portal in Lahaul and Spiti district.
A trial bus service carrying 44 passengers entered the under-construction Rohtang tunnel on Sunday from South Portal and alighted the passengers at North Portal.
“The bus service will run once a day from Solan barrier to North Portal,” said Manali sub-divisional magistrate Raman Garsanghi.
The 8.8-km-horseshoe shaped Rohtang Tunnel is coming up below the pass to provide all-weather connectivity, not just to Lahaul and Spiti but also Ladakh.
It was originally expected to be completed by 2015, with the deadline first extended to 2017 and then 2019. The project has now been delayed for another year due to several factors like continuous water ingress at Seri nullah, a rivulet that runs above the tunnel, ban on rock mining, delay in allotment of land needed for quarrying and loose rock strata in the middle. The BRO, the wing of defence ministry, is executing the project in collaboration with AFCONS, a joint venture with Strabag AG. It plans to make the tunnel operational by 2020.
The BRO had achieved a breakthrough at both ends of tunnel—at Sissu in the North Portal and Dhundhi in South Portal —in October last year. The tunnel will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46km, cutting down the travelling time by almost two hours.
Speed limits in the tunnel are restricted to 80km per hour. Besides providing a road link to Lahaul and Spiti during winter, the tunnel will accelerate troops’ mobility to strategic frontiers in Jammu and Kashmir Tunnel. It has a capacity to ply 3,000 vehicles per day under any weather condition.
The estimated cost of the project in 2010 was ₹1,700 crore. It was revised to ₹2,000 crore in 2015 and stands at ₹4,000 crore at present.
