On the 14/10/2021 Defence Minister  Rajnath Singh,  carried out the last blast of the main 1555m long Sela tunnel (T2) at a ceremony in the West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh.  The new tunnel will pass under the Sela Pass and it will become one of the longest bi-lane road tunnels in the world at an altitude above  3900 m (13,800 feet).  

The existing 317-km long Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road meanders its way through the Sela Pass on way to Tawang and it frequently gets blocked at the Sela Pass for both military and civilian traffic during three months in the winters due to heavy snowfall.  

This tunnel - constructed using the new Austrian Tunneling Method - is below the snow line allowing all weather travel without the challenges of snow clearance. It will reduce travel time for the people of Tawang,  bolster all-weather connectivity, and allow swifter military deployments to the critical Tawang and Kameng regions of Arunachal Pradesh along the China frontier,  ensuring speedier movement across the Sela Pass.  

The foundation stone of the project was laid by the Prime Minister in 2019. The excavation of the safety tunnel (T1) - 980 m long  - started only this year has already crossed the 700-m mark. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is feverishly working to complete the over Rs 700 crore Sela Tunnel project, by June next year, two months before the deadline. BRO has achieved more than 8 m of excavation per day in one tube which is a record in itself

Click here for a video, here and in/83 for more detailed information in the tunnelbuilder archive and also visit https://pib.gov.in. 43/21.