Amid ongoing border tension with China, the Centre cleared the construction of the Shinkun La tunnel on the Nimu-Padam-Darcha road link to facilitate all-weather connectivity to the border areas of Ladakh.
Sharing details of the Union Cabinet decision, Union minister Anurag Thakur said the tunnel being built at a cost of Rs 1,681 crore will be completed by December 2025. An approach will also be built by December 2025.
The length of the tunnel will be 4.1 km
The Shinkun La tunnel will provide all-weather road connectivity to Ladakh and this will be the shortest route to the border areas of the Union territory, the minister said.
Thakur further said that the project is “very important” as far as the security and safety of the country is concerned.
“The Cabinet Committee on Security today approved the Shinku La tunnel for Ladakh area which will provide all-weather connectivity to the Ladakh region with the entire country,” the minister said
“This (project) is also very important as far as the security and safety of the country is concerned…. It will also help in the movement of our security forces in that region,” Thakur said, PTI reported.
Centre’s go-ahead for additional 9,000 ITBP troops for LAC
The cabinet also gave nod for the induction of 9,400 fresh Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops for raising seven new border battalions apart from a new operational base for the India-China LAC guarding force.
The additional manpower will be utilised for guarding 47 new border posts and a dozen ‘staging camps’.
The battalions and the sector headquarter are expected to be put in place by 2025-26.
The proposal was cleared during the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
