Shimla: As soon as Congress came to power in Himachal Pradesh, an old controversy related to Atal Tunnel has come to the fore. The new Chief Minister of the state, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, has ordered the administration to set up a foundation stone with the name of Sonia Gandhi in the Atal Tunnel. In fact, Sonia Gandhi, the then chairperson of the National Advisory Council, laid the foundation stone of the tunnel's south portal at Dhundi near the tunnel on 28 June 2010. The foundation stone was laid in the presence of the then CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and late Union Minister Virbhadra Singh.

The Congress had alleged that the foundation stone was removed before PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the tunnel on 3 October 2020. Gyalchan Thakur, the then Congress chief of Lahaul and Spiti district, lodged a complaint with the police on 13 October 2020 regarding the missing stone. Congress had accused the BJP of removing the foundation stone. After the allegations and counter-allegations, the local police issued a clarification in this regard. In its clarification, on October 14, 2020, the police had told that the foundation stone laid by Sonia Gandhi is kept safe with SAJV, the private construction company making the tunnel. 

Kuldeep Rathore, the then chief of the Himachal Congress unit, had written a letter in this regard to the then CM Jairam Thakur. Rathore had said in the letter that it is illegal to remove the foundation stone. At the same time, he demanded action against those who did so. Let us inform you that the decision to construct the strategic tunnel at Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh was taken on June 3, 2000, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of the country. In his honor, in 2019, the Union Cabinet decided to name the Rohtang Tunnel Project as Atal Tunnel.

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