Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said he wants to make Auli, a hill station situated in Uttarakhand, an attraction for tourists across the world. Addressing a virtual event, Gadkari also said he is planning to develop a landscape between the 18-km-stretch of Zojila tunnel in Ladakh and Z-Morh tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir like world-famous Davos in Switzerland.
“We want to develop Auli in Uttrakhand near Badrinath and Kedarnath as an attraction for tourists across the world,” he said.
The small-yet-picture-perfect town of Auli is India’s premier ski resort destination.
Originally developed as a paramilitary base, Auli’s skiing slopes are popular among tourists and professionals alike. In winter, Auli hosts several snow adventure events.
Standing at around 2,800-metre height, and surrounded by acres of oak and coniferous forests, Auli offers panoramic views of some of India’s highest peaks, including the second-highest in the country, Nanda Devi (7,816m).
Davos, a town in the Swiss Alps, is a popular ski resort and hosts the annual World Economic Forum meeting. Zojila Pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway and remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall.
Gadkari in October last year launched the construction work on Zojila tunnel, and exuded confidence that the strategic project, which will provide all-year connectivity between Srinagar valley and Leh, will be completed ahead of schedule before the next Lok Sabha elections.
The project has a completion schedule of six years.
Once completed, the tunnel, projected as Asia’s longest, would reduce the travel time from 3 hours to 15 minutes with avalanche-free travel on the Srinagar-Leh section of NH-1.
