BJP President JP Nadda to inspect Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh today

New Delhi, July 05: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagat Prakash Nadda will on Monday inspect the Atal tunnel in Himachal Pradesh. The BJP chief reached the state on Sunday and met BJP workers in Bilaspur.

Apart from inspecting the high-altitude tunnel, Nadda will also attend a party meeting in Kullu-Manali.

In 2020, the tunnel was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is located at a distance of 25km from Manali at an altitude of 3,060 metres.

The 9.02-kilometre-long tunnel has been built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas. It has cut down the distance between Leh and Manali by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours.

Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded that a foundation plaque bearing party president Sonia Gandhi's name must be reinstalled at the Atal tunnel. All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Sanjay Dutt on Sunday threatened to protest if this is not done.

Dutt said that despite the assurances, the state government did not reinstall the plaque.

Dutt said that the tunnel is the gift of the then Congress-led UPA government.

Originally conceived as Rohtang Tunnel, it was rechristened Atal Tunnel on December 25, 2019, in the memory of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.