Authorities are on an overdrive to build a strategic Zojila tunnel in Kashmir to reduce travel time to Ladakh where China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is aggressively pushing its territorial claims along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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It could be one of the very few development projects in India to be completed ahead of its deadline which was fixed for November 2026.
Officials say the tunnel will be opened for movement of the armed forces in September 2024 if the PLA created any disturbance along the border.
The need for the Zojila tunnel was first felt during the 1999 Kargil war and the recent incursions by China made it an urgent necessity.
The tunnel will provide logistics flexibility and operational mobility to the Indian Army as it will reduce the travel time on Zojila Pass from 3.5 hours to 15 minutes.
Zojila tunnel, which marks the end of the conifer-clad mountains of Kashmir Valley, will connect Sonamarg in Kashmir with Minamarg in cold desert Ladakh.
To be built at a cost of Rs 2,600 crore, the horseshoe-shaped Zojila tunnel will be India’s longest street burrow and the highest tunnel at 3,485 metre.
the tunnel will reduce the distance between Baltal to Minamarg from 40 km to 13 km. The Zoji La project consists of 18-km tunnels and 17-km roads, three vertical shafts, and four bridges.
Presently, the Zojila Pass that connects Kashmir’s capital city Srinagar to Ladakh is motorable only for six months only as the accumulation of snow makes it inaccessible during winters.
It creates inconveniences for civilians in Ladakh who have to stockpile the ration before winter sets in.
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