LehPrime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here this morning on his day-long visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
He was received at the Leh Airport by Governor N.N. Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in addition to senior civil and military officials.
This is the his second visit to Leh, a Himalayan town sharing border with Pakistan and China and located 450 km north of the states summer capital city of Srinagar. He had visited here on August 12, 2014 and inaugurated a hydel power project.
After reaching the airport, the prime minister stopped on the road and met people who had come to welcome him.
I thank the wonderful people of Leh for the warm welcome. I am delighted to be here, he tweeted.
The prime minister will participate in the closing ceremony of 100th birth anniversary of the 19th Kushak Bakula Rinpoche.
Modi will unveil a plaque to mark the commencement of work on the Zojila tunnel, which will provide all-weather connectivity to this region.
The 14 km tunnel will be countrys longest road tunnel and Asias longest bi-directional tunnel.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the prime minister, had approved the construction, operation and maintenance of this tunnel between Baltal and Minamarg, on the Srinagar-Leh section at a total cost of Rs 6,800 crore earlier this year.
The construction of this tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh and will lead to all-round economic and socio-cultural integration of these regions.
The road remains cut off from November to March due to heavy snowfall, landslides and avalanches. Normally, it takes around four hours to drive through the mountainous 9 km through Zoji La but after the construction of tunnel, which is likely to be completed in 2026, it will take only 15 minutes.
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