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Now Have Winter Fun In Breathtaking Sonamarg; PM Opens All Weather Tunnel

Two-lane, 6.4 km tunnel allows bi-directional traffic and bypasses landslide and avalanche routes from Srinagar to Sonamarg and beyond to Leh and Kargil
Along with under construction Zojila tunnel, which would be Asia’s highest and set for completion in next couple of years, Sonamarg tunnel will cut travel time between Srinagar and Leh by three-and-a-half hours
Much awaited Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway to be completed by the end of 2025, announces Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari
Four highway corridors connecting Jammu region with Kashmir, being constructed at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore, to cut travel times by hours
Jammu ring road to be completed by September 2025 and Srinagar ring road by end of the year
PM asserts that Jammu & Kashmir will soon become one of the most connected regions of the country and none will be left deprived of contributing to, and reaping the fruits of mission ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047
The complete harmony and camaraderie witnessed between CM Omar Abdullah and PM Narendra Modi and the positive vibes raise prospects for early restoration of statehood to Jammu & Kashmir

The occasion was the formal inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Sonamarg tunnel, which has opened an all-weather route from Srinagar to the even more beautiful Sonamarg region and beyond, to Leh and Ladakh, thereby giving a fillip to winter tourism, speedier development of the region and easier movement of defence forces and supplies.

What was most striking at a public meeting held immediately after the event was the sight of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Prime Minister in complete sync on issues like India First, and an unwavering resolve to carry forward the development agenda for the Union territory despite the threat of terrorism.

The complete harmony and camaraderie between the two leaders witnessed during the event raised the prospects of early restoration of statehood to Jammu & Kashmir. In his speech Abdullah while thanking the PM for coming good on two of the three promises he had made at the International Yoga Day event held in Srinagar last year, expressed the hope that the third promise of restoring statehood to the territory would also be fulfilled soon, eliciting a faint smile from Modi.

Omar Abdulla mentioned the two fulfilled promises as holding free and fair elections in the state within four months and realising another much-awaited demand of opening a separate Jammu Rail Division just two weeks ago.

In his address to the gathering, Modi, while committing to walk in step with the people of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to realise their dreams and aspirations, vowed to remove all hurdles which come in the way of speedy development of the state.

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Expressing confidence that the pace at which road and rail projects along with other infrastructure projects were being executed in Jammu and Kashmir it would become one of the most connected territories of the country and will contribute and reap the fruits of the push towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.

CM Omar Abdullah, PM Narendra Modi and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in their speeches, prominently mentioned the contribution of the brave hearts who worked on this extremely challenging tunnel project, even at the risk of their safety and security, to make it happen.

Abdullah went to the extent of mentioning by name each of the seven labourers working on the project, who lost their lives in a terrorist attack. Modi highlighted the unshakable resolve shown by all stakeholders to carry on with development works despite all odds.

Sharing memories of his several past visits to these areas, including Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Gandalbal, Baramulla, etc, as a BJP sangathan pracharak, Modi said he along with other party workers used to walk long distances to reach out to people in remote locations. But despite the bitter cold, the warmth of the people of Jammu and Kashmir kept them going.

Arial view of the scenic beauty around the Sonamarg tunnel shared by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. PHOTO Credit: X/@OmarAbdulah

In a lighter vein, he also said that seeing the aerial photographs of the beautiful scenery of snow-capped hills in the area posted by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on his social media a couple of days ago his eagerness to be here for the Sonamarg tunnel inauguration had increased tremendously. (More of these photographs are shared later in the write-up).

Modi asserted that the massive developmental push and other initiatives of the central government had already started showing positive results, with a marked increase in tourists visiting the territory (from 2.11 crore in 2023 to 2.35 core in 2024, according to Lt. Guv. Manoj Sinha) and Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s business growing from Rs 1.60 lakh crore to Rs 2.30 lakh crore in the last four years, which resulted in more people getting loans from the bank.

He claimed that a bright future awaited Jammu & Kashmir, as, apart from the government investing heavily in the state, the private sector had also lined up Rs 13,000 crore of investments in the territory.

The Prime Minister also met the construction workers who worked on the Sonamarg tunnel in harshest of conditions and acknowledged their contribution to this engineering feat.

Details of connectivity projects in J&K

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari shared details of a long list of ongoing and planned road and highway, tunnel, bridge and ropeway projects in the state.

Apart from the Sonamarg and Zojila tunnels, he said his ministry is building four highway corridors connecting Jammu region with Kashmir in the Union Territory at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore, which will prove to be its lifelines.

* Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar corridor: 250 km long; slated for completion by 2025 end; 15 of the 33 tunnels on this corridor completed; will reduce distance by 70 km and save five hours of journey time.
* Jammu-Chenani-Anantnag corridor: 202 km long; expected completion by 2025 end; 5 tunnels on this corridor to cut distance by 68 km.
* Surankote-Shopian-Baramulla-Uri corridor: 303 km long; completion by 2027.
* Jammu-Akhnoor-Surankote-Poonch corridor: 203 km long; detailed project report (DPR) process started.

Gadkari announced that the DPR process has also been initiated for another important corridor — Kathua-Basohli-Bhaderwah-Doda. The four-lane, 250 km long road will allow people coming from Punjab side to go directly from Kathua to Srinagar without having to enter Jammu.

The 104-km, four-lane Srinagar ring road will be completed by the year-end; people going to Gurez, Baramulla, or Ladakh will not have to enter Srinagar.

The much awaited 670 km long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra greenfield express highway, being constructed at a cost of Rs 41,000 crore, will be completed by the year-end. In another one-and-a-half years’ time the road journey between Delhi and Srinagar will be reduced to 8-8.5 hours.

Work on the Shankaracharya ropeway in Srinagar, Baltal to Amarnath cave shrine ropeway, and Sonamarg-Thajiwas ropeway is also expected to start soon.

PHOTOS Credit: X/@OmarAbdullah

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