The Forest (Conservation) Act has been cleared by the Centre for the construction of a second strategic tunnel that will connect Ladakh and Himachal without passing through the 5,091-meter (16,615-foot) Shinku La mountain.
The 4.1-km long proposed tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity from Manali to Leh via the Nimu-Padum-Darcha road, an important defence axis. Once complete, it will be world’s highest highway tunnel, surpassing the Atal Tunnel, also located on the Manali-Leh Highway
The tunnel will cut the distance between Manali and Leh by 60 km, bringing it down from 355 to 295 km. It is an alternative to the Manali-Leh-Kargil route.
The south portal and about 3.8 km of the tunnel are under Himachal and the north portal and part of the tunnel will be under Ladakh.
“Due to the efforts of the state government, the way for construction of the Shinku La Tunnel has been cleared. The central government has given FCA clearance to build a 4.1 km tunnel to connect Lahaul and Ladakh,” chief minister (CM) Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, adding that the state government gave priority to the construction of the important tunnel and got the Centre’s approval by appointing a special officer.
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