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Rohtang tunnel project was envisaged by Indira Gandhi: Virbhadra Singh
Virbhadra Singh said people of Lahaul-Spiti will get round-the-year connectivity to the rest of the world by commissioning of the Atal Tunnel.
Congress veteran and former chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh extended greetings to the people of Lahaul-Spiti district on the completion of Rohtang tunnel project that will be dedicated to the nation on Saturday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a statement issued here, Virbhadra Singh said people of Lahaul-Spiti will get round-the-year connectivity to the rest of the world by commissioning of the Atal Tunnel.
The veteran leader said as a Union minister he had taken up early construction of the tunnel in 2010 with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “The project was envisaged by former PM Indira Gandhi during her night stay at Keylong in 1972. People there had met her and demanded construction of a road that would keep them connected to Manali-Kullu despite snowfall,” he said.
Singh said in the same year, Indira Gandhi had asked the ministry of defense to explore possibilities of constructing a road or a tunnel. “In 2010, the then UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, under the leadership of PM Manmohan Singh, had laid the foundation stone of this tunnel on June 28,” he said, adding that the tunnel also holds importance from a strategic point of view.
