Almost after a decade of gruelling hard work by the Border Roads Organisation, the longest highway tunnel in the world, the Atal Rohtang tunnel was completed recently and was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi today.

The all-season highway tunnel is said to reduce the distance from Manali to Leh by a whopping 46 km. The tunnel reduces the journey time from Manali Valley to Lahaul and Spiti Valley, which normally takes around five hours to negotiate, to mere 10 minutes.

Experts say that the pace at which #AtalTunnel was being constructed during UPA regime were to continue, it would be completed by 2040! Our govt increased the pace of construction from 300 meters/year to 1400 meters/year and completed the project in 2020.

– PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/TuFxJdcpMm
— BJP (@BJP4India) October 3, 2020

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane at Atal Tunnel, Rohtang

(?: ANI)

For more updates, follow: https://t.co/kY6GRm8HBe #AtalTunnel #Rohtang pic.twitter.com/ApNqL4mk1Y
— Jagran English (@JagranEnglish) October 3, 2020

https://twitter.com/iSalilRana/status/1302911904533213184

The 9.02 km tunnel cuts through the magnificent Pir Panjal range. The tunnel has been named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

https://twitter.com/Anni_2204/status/1302802366140264450

Atal tunnel #rohtangpass #dailyhimachal pic.twitter.com/qdU5tT9yJc
— Daily Himachal (@dailyhimachal) September 8, 2020

Since Rohtang Tunnel is again in news today, some pics from last year when photographer colleague @JasbirMalhi1 and I covered the breakthrough from Manali to Spiti valley and the first traffic to pass through. pic.twitter.com/yRHlddXVzR
— Man Aman Singh Chhina (@manaman_chhina) September 4, 2020

The foundation stone of the same was laid by in 2010 by then PM Sonia Gandhi. It was originally touted to be 8.8 km long but after completion, it entertains a length of 9.02 kilometres.

A short film on the Making of #AtalTunnel, #Rohtang #AtalRohtangTunnel pic.twitter.com/I1q7gqoan0
— DD News (@DDNewslive) October 3, 2020

The tunnel has various safety features including a telephone after every 150 metres and fire hydrant every 60 metres. It also has an emergency exit after every 500 metres, turning cavern every 2.2 km, air quality monitoring every one km. Broadcasting system and automatic incident detection system with CCTV cameras every 250 metres have also been tucked.