This midwinter in January, a friend of mine from Kargil hadto visit Srinagar due to some urgency. As the Srinagar-Leh National highway wassnow laden and closed for the six months of winter and due to the high price ofcommercial flight tickets from Leh to Srinagar, he decided to take the AN-32(locally known as Dakota) courier service from Kargil to Srinagar. Only laterhe realised that he had chosen the wrong path. It is a norm that the AN-32courier service gets cancelled and rescheduled every time. My friend managed toreach Srinagar by the AN-32 service after he touched the milestone of sixcancellations and reschedules that took him ten days to cover a journey of200kms. I went to the Srinagar airport to receive him. After greetings andwishes, the first line out of his mouth ,as I expected, was, “Syed , we needthat tunnel”. And I answered with a smile, “There will be a Zoji-La tunnel, oneday.” He started laughing and I joined him. Those were pity laughs. Becauseeverybody in Kargil was having that kind of Zoji-la tunnel conversations nowand then, and everyone has got used to that kind of sarcastic phrases. Butjokes apart, how badly we need the Zoji-la Tunnel on the Srinagar-Leh Nationalhighway.
My first and the most important argument in favour ofZoji-la tunnel is this. We need it because I don’t want any of my friends facethat kind of hardship while traveling out of Kargil during winter. On a seriousnote, this tunnel will play an important role on humanitarian front. You knowpeople in Kargil (Ladakh) collect reserve of every items for the sake of sixmonths of winter. And after the midwinter and during the last weeks of winter,people in Kargil face shortages of every items like food items, candles, woodsfor fire, medicines, kerosene etc. The high price of rotten and low qualityfruits and vegetables is a problem during the whole winter season. Hospitalsand medical stores are either short or run out of medicines. People in Kargilcrave for the basic day to day needs like meat, egg, fruits. Health iseffected. When patients are referred to higher hospitals like SKIMSS or SMHSoutside the district, it creates a huge burden of airfare on the pockets ofalready deprived and disqualified people of the region.
Every government at centre, especially the current one,tries to be the champion of National Security. Irony is , they are doing verylittle for the security of the region where several wars were fought during1971 and 1999. If Pakistan decides to attack and capture the western part ofLadakh with its full force during the peak winter season, I don’t think ourgovernment in Delhi can do anything more than watching Pakistani rangermarching and tanks rolling on Kargil roads on YouTube channel “Ladakh Times”. Iam not putting Ideas in our neighbour’s head but it is the harsh truth. Theonly strategic road connecting Ladakh division with the other two regions ofthe state remains closed during winter and it will be impossible to land thebig Indian Airforce aeroplanes on the small and under construction airport inKargil. And for your kind information Srinagar is nearer to Kargil as comparedto Leh.
The construction of Zoji-La tunnel will be an economicalboost for the state and especially for the region. This will create new jobsand will ensure an increase in consumption in the economy. An all weathertransit route between Srinagar and Ladakh will boost the economy of the statethrough trade and tourism.
This tunnel will act as a magic wand for the tourism sectorof state. Sonamarg and the Baltal region provide a good spot for winter gamesand activities and winter tourism. The Z-morh tunnel, part of the Zojilatunnel’s first phase project , will provide an all weather connectivity tothese regions.
And last but not the least, the Government of India shouldstop playing with the sentiments of people of Ladakh. The Government shouldstop using the Zoji-La tunnel for their political gains. Government of Indiamust contemplate the grave concern of the people of this region. In themeantime government should start the commercial flight service under the UDANScheme and terminate the inefficient AN-32 service. The time to act is now.Else Ghalib’s Lament may sound true.
“Hum ne maana ki taghaful na karoge lekin,
Khaaq ho jaayenge hum tum ko khabar hote tak”
(I know you may notneglect me,
But it may be too late by the time you act),
(The author is B.tech from NIT Srinagar)