Rohtang Tunnel: How a Prime Minister (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) fulfilled dream of his tribal friend Tashi Dawa

A friendship that bridged world's highest all-weather tunnel to connect Leh, Ladakh & Lahaul to rest of the world

The seeds of 9.2 km-long highest tunnel in the world that connects Manali to Lahaul valley was sown five years before India’s Independence (1942) in Baroda Gujarat, where a tribal Buddhist Tashi Dawa, and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee spent time together in an RSS training camp. The tribal man Tashi Dawa and Vajpayee became good friends. During their stay together in Baroda, Tashi Dawa used to tell the hardship faced by Lahaul valley people for want of all year connectivity. It was he who told Atal about Rohtang Pass the only road to connect the valley with the rest of the world.

He also told a proposal of 1860 by a Moravian Missionary to construct a tunnel beneath Rohtang pass, which was considered impossible by all. However, Tashi was convinced that such a tunnel can be constructed.  It was after 56 years (1998), when Tashi met Vajpayee at PM residence and told him to fulfil the long-pending dream of Lahaul people to connect with the rest of the world.

Tashi, also known as Arjun Ram Gopal, a resident of Thalang in Lahaul-Spiti, is a little known name in Himachal politics. He remained a foot soldier of RSS till his death. He also reminded of their friendship during 1942 and the problem they discussed those days. Interestingly, Vajpayee could not recognize his face but recognized his voice and said: “The voice belongs to his old friend Tashi Dawa”.

Dawa pressed for the tunnel demand to connect Manali to Lahaul Valley and make it an all-weather road. The road is also strategically important and is considered a lifeline between forwarding areas of Leh Ladakh and the upper region of Himachal with the rest of the world.

He again reminded the PM about the Moravian Mission, which had proposed the tunnel in 1860 during the British era. Though five years after independence, (1953) the idea of the tunnel was rejected by Jawahar Lal Government, Tashi was convinced that a tunnel can be made. In 1983 then PM Indira Gandhi also tried to work on the tunnel project, unfortunately, she was assassinated before she could make any final announcement.

He reportedly made a detailed presentation to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Considering the strategic importance of the tunnel, he gave his consent and instructed his officials to look into the feasibility of the Tunnel. It took two years for the officials to prepare a detailed report and informed the PM that the tunnel is possible.

The tunnel, which was a dream for people of Upper Himachal and Ladakh was finally announced by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in June 2000 during his visit to Lahul Spiti valley. It took another 10 years to start construction with a target to make it operational by 2017.

But look at the irony, the two friends who dreamt of a tunnel to connect Lahaul valley with rest of the world could not see it happening in their lifetime. Tashi died in December 2007 in a hospital in Kullu and Atal passed away in August 2018.

For people of Lahaul Spiti, the tunnel is a dream fulfilled by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his tribal friend Tashi, who wanted round the year connectivity for people of Upper Himachal.

Importance of Atal Tunnel:

Before the tunnel, the distance between Keylong and Manali was 112 Kms which was reduced by 46 Km. And the time taken has come down by almost five hours. Passing through Rohtang pass is very time consuming, and it reduces the efficiency of a vehicle because of low oxygen level. And it was operational only from April to October. For rest part of the year, it was closed due to heavy snow.

According to an estimate, nearly 1500 trucks and 3000 cars would pass through the tunnel every day. It is estimated that the tunnel would save nearly 2 crore litre diesel/petrol in a year. One can make out the huge money, pollution and foreign exchange saving because 2 crore litre less fuel is consumed in a year.

Besides, the driving times would be saved by about 19500 every day. In other words, yearly 71 lakh hours would be saved of motorists because of the tunnel.

Facts About Atal Tunnel

Atal tunnel is the longest highway tunnel in the World built at above 10,000 feet. The 9.02 Km long tunnel connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. Earlier the valley was cut off for about 6 months each year owing to heavy snowfall.

 

The Tunnel is built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 Mtrs (10,000 Feet) from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).

The South Portal (SP) of Atal Tunnel is located at a distance of 25 Km from Manali at an altitude of 3060 Mtrs, while the North Portal (NP) of the tunnel is located near village Teling, Sissu, in Lahaul Valley at an altitude of 3071 Mtrs.

It is horse shoe shaped, single tube double lane tunnel with a roadway of 8 Mtrs. It has an overhead clearance of 5.525 Mtrs.

It is 10.5-metre wide and has a 3.6 x 2.25 Mtrs fireproof emergency egress tunnel built into the main tunnel itself.

Atal Tunnel has been designed for traffic the density of 3000 cars per day and 1500 trucks per day with a max speed of 80 km/hr.

It has the state of the art electromechanical system including semi transverse ventilation system, SCADA controlled firefighting, illumination and monitoring system.  

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