NEW DELHI: Chenani-Nashri tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir, which is the longest in India, may be named after BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

Union minister Jitendra Singh has made this suggestion to highways minister Nitin Gadkari . Sources said Gadkari is in favour of the proposal and a decision would be taken soon. The 9.2 km all-weather tunnel on Jammu-Srinagar highway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2, 2017.

TOI has learnt that Singh had first sent the proposal to name the tunnel after the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which later became BJP, in 2017, but it could not happen as then coalition government led by Mehbooba Mufti had some issues.

Now with President’s Rule in J&K, there is little chance of any impediment to the proposal. “It’s a state- of -the-art tunnel and the pride of not only J&K but the entire country. It will be a befitting tribute to Syama Prasad Mookerjee since he was arrested in Udhampur-Kathua region and taken to Srinagar through the stretch where the tunnel has now been built. And that also turned out to be his last journey before he breathed his last on June 23, 1953 while still in detention,” Singh told TOI.

The tunnel, bypassing snow-bound upper reaches, has reduced the journey time by two hours and the distance between Chenani and Nashri is now only 9.2 km. Earlier, vehicles needed to travel around 41 km to cover this stretch.

This will be the second tunnel in J&K to be named after a political leader. On December 22, 1956, then Congress government had named the 2.85 km tunnel on the same highway after then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . The Jawahar Tunnel is also called Banihal Tunnel or Banihal Pass.

Officials said though there is no provision to name any National Highway stretch, there have been some exceptions. One such was the naming of India’s longest bridge on Brahmaputra after Bhupen Hazarika. The 9.3 km bridge connecting Dhola village and Sadiya town in Tinsukia district of Assam was named as Bhupen Hazarika Setu. PM Modi had inaugurated this on May 26, 2017.

