In Zojila, light at the end of the tunnel

On June 9, when the construction of the 13.14 km long Zojila Tunnel witnessed success, 50-year-old Muhammad Shafi Sagar and 30-year-old Ashiq Wazir, who were unknown to each other, experienced both relief and sadness. The saving grace is that he and his friends will, in a few years, be able to travel relatively free from the fear of the dangerous terrain between Ladakh’s Dras district and the Kashmir Valley. Sad, as both of them had lost their loved ones in the dangerous Zojila Pass.

The Zojila Tunnel crosses the pass which runs for 30 km cutting through the steep, rugged Himalayan range in Dras. At Pandras village in the district, the mountains are parallel walls; No trees are visible at this height of 10,800 feet. In winter the temperature drops to as low as -25 degrees Celsius. In summer, the peaks are still covered with snow, but relief is provided by melting glaciers. They release waterfalls from the high mountain sides, which amplify the roar of the Dras River below.

Herders from the plains congregate on the highland grasslands containing wild grasses and fresh water. The kids at Pendras High School are outside, the sun is shining above them and on their L-shaped, one-story campus, but strong winds are still making it necessary to wear wind-blockers. Even in June the night temperature is falling below the freezing point.

Under these circumstances, 1,200 people, working from a camp site, are building the Zojila Tunnel, which will connect Baltal in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district and Minamarg in Ladakh’s Dras on National Highway-1. In the past, the pass was fraught with tragedy.

Sagar, a Pendras High School teacher who is also the author of a book on the culture of the Shina tribe in Ladakh, says, “Stone falls, ice slides, sudden drops in temperature and avalanches have taken the lives of travelers at the Zojila Pass for centuries. Kargil (in Ladakh) is full of stories of loss and disappearance.”

Workers and technicians, mostly from India but also from abroad, put in 10 million safe work hours. They grappled with the geological uncertainties of the new mountains, the rock gradient changing every two hundred metres, and water flowing from cracks. Built at a cost of ₹6,800 crore, excavations were carried out at altitudes ranging from 2,900 meters on the Kashmir side to 3,310 meters on the Ladakh side. It is expected to be operational by 2028, and is designed to be open year-round.

danger zone

Sagar tells a story about his colleagues from 33 years ago. In 1993, Pendras High School, located 13 km from Zojila Pass, closed for its normal five-month winter holidays in December. Two teachers, Shabbir Ahmed and Bashir Ahmed, decided to return home to the Kashmir Valley. The Union Territory of Ladakh was part of the Kashmir division of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir until 2019.

Sagar says, “Winter had already set in. Both the teachers left for home. The sub-zero temperatures near Zojila Pass took their lives. One body was recovered after a week and the other body has not been found till date. Local people think that wild animals might have taken it away.”

For Sagar, the tunnel has provided a new lease of life to the people living here. “When a local fell ill and needed specialized treatment, the nearest hospital was in Leh, 279 km away. The patient would then be airlifted to Delhi or Srinagar. With the tunnel, it would be only 141 km to Srinagar,” says Sagar. Concerns about vegetables, gas and grocery stocks will be stories of the past.

On March 27 this year, despite better road management and early warnings than in the past, an avalanche at Zojila Pass killed seven people and injured five others. Around 12.30 pm, due to sudden strong sunlight, rocks started falling. One of the victims of the terror-inducing Zojila Pass was Akbar Ali Shadab, a 36-year-old resident of Tharumsa Pashkum village in Kargil. Shadab had given birth to a child only six months ago. He worked as a wildlife protector and was respected for his volunteerism.

Wazir, the victim’s nephew, says, “There was news on social media that four vehicles were hit by an avalanche. We reached the spot in the evening. The rescue team stopped the operation for the night. My uncle’s body was found around 6 am the next morning.”

Now, the conversation around Zozilla is changing. Sajjad Kargili, in-charge of the political affairs of Jamiat Ul Ulama Isna Ashriya, Kargil, an influential seminary, sees the tunnel as “the realization of a decades-old dream of the local people”. He cites several leaders who have demanded the tunnel over the years, both at the state and central levels.

Kargili was joined by senior members of the seminary on 9 June and paid tribute to “all those who dedicated their lives to this cause but could not live to see this historic moment”. He remembers those who disappeared or died.

“This is not just an engineering milestone but also a testament to the sacrifices made,” says Kargili. “This historic success is a landmark achievement in a long journey of struggle, hope and determination. It opens a new chapter of connectivity, progress and prosperity for the region.”

Up to 80% of the workers at the site are locals. The possibility of tourism is opened up throughout the year, with the goal of keeping the tunnel open through winter.

touch the heights

Zojila Pass in Ladakh has historically been challenging for India. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Pakistan strangled it and it took two months of operating tanks between September and October to defeat and oust the Pakistani army in 1948. The war promoted construction work to make the Zojila Pass motorable. Sagar says, “After the India-China war of 1962, attention again shifted to Zojila Pass and its importance. The road was further widened and given more attention.”

From 2005 to 2019, attempts to award the project failed four times. The project was halted in 2019 due to financial losses of the company that tendered to do the work. 2020 saw a change in the pace of work on the Zojila tunnel after India and China faced off in Galwan on June 15-16 and casualties were reported on both sides for the first time since the wars of the 1960s.

The construction of Zojila Tunnel was started by National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) on October 15, 2020. The first blast in the Nilgiri Tunnel took place on October 14, 2020. To set the stage for the tunnel work, approach roads, bridges, Nilgiri twin tunnels, cut-and-cover works and snow galleries (to protect the tunnel from heavy snowfall) were constructed.

Six years later, the Zojila Tunnel is believed to be the world’s longest single-tube bidirectional road tunnel at an altitude of 11,578 feet. The main tunnel is U-shaped and is 9.5 meters wide and 7.57 meters high.

The harsh weather conditions along with the rocky structure of the mountain posed a great challenge to the engineers and workers. The classification of rocks in the 13.14 km stretch was changed 67 times and continued to vary between good and poor formations. The highly unstable geology was managed with the expertise of a skilled team.

“The Himalayas are considered young mountains. They are just 700 million years old,” says Youssef S’Haghpour Rahimabadi, an Iranian engineer who works for NHIDCL. He further added, “The rocks have not yet completely solidified or compacted. We had to work on eight to 10 fault zones, which required special measures. Water seepage has been a major concern.”

He has 29 years of experience in tunneling. “I worked mostly in the Middle East,” says Rahimabadi, who provided consultation on design as well as on-site solutions.

Rahimabadi says that the age of the tunnel has been fixed at 100 years. During the construction of the project, workers endured temperatures of -20 °C for approximately 100 days a year. A base camp for over 1,100 people was established, providing climate-appropriate food, medical facilities, transportation, and facilities to maintain operations around the clock.

A Spanish company also joined the project to provide expert solutions to the problems arising from the geology of the mountains.

Over the past five years, the project site suffered five major avalanches, two in 2023, two in 2024, and one in 2025. On January 12, 2023, a severe avalanche occurred in the Sarabal area close to the Nilgiri tunnels. On January 15, 2023, 172 workers were trapped in an avalanche.

To deal with heavy snow accumulation in winter, a fleet of small and large snow blowers were deployed. This ensured uninterrupted construction work and also kept the highway open for regular vehicular traffic. “Procurement was also a big challenge. It took three months to bring the gantry to Meenamarg as the bypass at Sonamarg was closed for winter,” says Rahimabadi.

Gantrys are huge adaptable molds designed to shape concrete within tunnel excavations. Rahimabadi credits the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), which applies a sequential excavation method. Rahimabadi says, “The NATM method uses the blast-and-go-ahead technique. We worked in two shifts in 24 hours to ensure that the deadlines were met.”

The tunnel has vertical structures to provide fresh air ventilation and emergency safety as there is no separate escape route. It provides automatic and emergency lighting, emergency phone and radio connectivity and message signaling to ensure the safety of passengers. With this, vehicles will be able to run at a speed of 80 km per hour. It will take travelers 30 to 40 minutes to cross the mighty and difficult Himalayan range, up from two hours to cross the Zojila Pass.

change at the press of a button

Harpal Singh, chief operating officer of Megha Engineering, recalls seeing a pack of bears hibernating near the tunnel mouth in winter. “We would ignore each other. We tried not to disturb their habitat.” He also talks about the desolate landscape when people would migrate from Sonamarg in winter. “We will see only police and army patrolling,” says Singh.

Zojila Tunnel has immense strategic importance for India. India shares a 3,488 km long border with China, of which 1,597 km passes through Ladakh. Apart from the threats posed by China in the east, across the Line of Control, Pakistan is to the west of Ladakh.

“Earlier, Zojila Pass used to remain closed for five to six months due to snowfall. This tunnel will maintain all-weather connectivity with Ladakh and help the army,” says Singh.

The completion of the Zojila tunnel project comes at a time when large-scale military activities are being witnessed by China along the borders of Ladakh and by Pakistan in Gilgit and Baltistan.

When Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari pressed the button for the final blast inside the tunnel on June 9, he underlined the strategic value of the tunnel. “This project will prove to be a gamechanger from a national security perspective. With year-round connectivity, the movement of the Indian Army, as well as the supply of Army material, equipment and logistics, will become faster, safer and more effective, thereby strengthening the country’s strategic preparedness,” he said.

The voice of a school teacher is heard above the increasing voice of the government. Sagar is concerned, saying, “The tunnel could weaken the local culture. Modernity will pose a challenge to the old ways of life in Dras. Tourism will introduce new ways of construction.”