SONAMARG: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the strategic Z-Morh tunnel in Ganderbal’s Sonamarg area on Monday (January 13, 2025), remained non-committal on the timeline to restore Statehood to J&K but said the new network of road and railway lines in the Union Territory (UT) has “already ended Dili ki Doori [distance between J&K and Delhi]“.
With snow-capped mountains in the backdrop and freezing weather conditions, PM Modi inaugurated the state-of-art 6.5-kilometer-long tunnel built at a cost of Rs 2,700 crore. The tunnel has made tourist hotspot Sonamarg a round-the-year destination in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
Referring to the militant attack of October 20, 2024 that left seven workers dead at the construction site, PM Modi said, “I salute the dedication of workers who braved harsh weather conditions and even risked their lives to complete this project. Seven workers also laid down their lives but the incident did not deter us from our pledge. No worker returned home.”
PM Modi said the Z-Morh tunnel and the upcoming Zojila tunnel, connecting Kashmir with Ladakh, will ease the lives of Kargil and Leh people too. “During snowfall, avalanches and landslides, the road would get closed, hospitals cut-off and essentials difficult to access. However, life will become easy now for locals living here. We started work on the tunnel in 2015 and it’s satisfying to inaugurate it. The tunnel will give new wings to tourism in Sonamarg, which has already seen a quantum jump in tourist footfall,” the PM said.
Describing J&K as a destination with the “distinction of having highest rail and road bridges and rope ways”, PM Modi said, “The engineering of the Chenab bridge has amazed people across the world. Passenger train trials were completed last week on the bridge. The projects of the Chenani-Nashri tunnel, the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway link and the rope ways at the Shankaracharya temple, Shiv Khori temple and Baltal-Amarnath shrine are underway. A Rs 42,000-crore connectivity projects are executed in J&K, which include the Katra-Delhi expressway, four national highway projects, two ring roads and 14 Sonamarg-like tunnels. J&K will be the most connected region. Tourists can now even reach untouched destinations.”
Referring to the upgraded connectivity, PM Modi said Viksit Bharat is only possible when all the regions of the country are well developed. “J&K is the crown of the country and has to be beautiful and strong. I assure you Modi will walk the talk. Any hurdle in your dreams will be removed. ‘Dili ki Doori’ is already over now. We have to work together to fulfill dreams and have to take pledges together,” he added.