SHIMLA: The Himachal Congress on Monday claimed that the first stone laid by its national president Sonia Gandhi For him Rohtang Tunnel A decade ago it was removed before its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 3. In a letter to Prime Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the president of the state Congress, Kuldeep Singh Thakur, said that Gandhi had laid the first stone on June 28, 2010 in the presence of the then CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and the Union Minister, Virbhadra Singh.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for whom the tunnel is named, had announced the project during a public meeting at Lahaul-Spiti’s. Keylong in June 2000.
He had laid the foundation stone for a tunnel access road in 2002.
The congressional leader said that if he is not reinstated within fifteen days, the party will launch a statewide agitation.
“This is an undemocratic, unconventional and illegal step never observed in the history of Indian democracy, that the legally laid cornerstone of any project approved by the then government is removed after its completion to fulfill the political goals of an ideology. in particular, “the Himachal Congress said the chief in the two-page letter.
Meanwhile, the president of the Manali bloc Congress, Hari Chand Sharma, presented a complaint in this regard to the Kullu Police.
He complained that the first stone laid by Gandhi on the southern portal of the tunnel in Manali’s Dhoondi was missing.
Sharma said he has requested an investigation into the disappearance of the first stone. He said arrangements must be made to reinstall it in the same place.
When asked when he noticed it missing, Sharma said he found it “just now.”
Sharma claimed it was a “deliberate attempt” to remove evidence that Sonia Gandhi had laid the tunnel stone.
Similarly, the head of the Lahaul-Spiti Congress, Gialchhen Thakur, lodged a complaint with the police in this regard.
Keylong Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Hemant Thakur said the complaint was sent to the Kullu police when the Sonia Gandhi stone was laid in Dhoondi or Solang Nullah in Manali.
Kullu SP Gaurav Singh said that no FIR has been registered in this regard so far.
Meanwhile, reacting to criticism, Himachal BJP President Suresh Kashyap said that Congress had removed the foundations laid by Prem Kumar Dhumal’s government when he came to power in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 9.2 km long all-weather tunnel on 3 October.
Built at an altitude of 10,040 feet, it reduced the trip between Manali and Leh by 46 km, saving four to five hours.
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