Foundation stone laid by Sonia at Atal Tunnel in 2010 missing: Himachal Congress

In a letter to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, HPCC president Kuldeep Singh Rathore alleged that the foundation stone was removed by the administration during the inauguration of the tunnel earlier this month.

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Biswas also said a roadmap for the Tripura Congress had been prepared with the approval of Sonia Gandhi. (File)

A FOUNDATION stone that was laid at the newly-inaugurated Atal Tunnel at Rohtang by former UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in 2010 has gone “missing”, the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) alleged on Monday.

In a letter to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, HPCC president Kuldeep Singh Rathore alleged that the foundation stone was removed by the administration during the inauguration of the tunnel earlier this month.

“This is an undemocratic, unconventional and illegal step. If the foundation stone is not reinstalled at its original position, the Congress will organise a massive state-level agitation against the government and the administration,” Rathore said in his letter.

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He added that foundation stones laid by the Congress during 2012 to 2017 have been removed or destroyed at several places in the state by anti-social elements, but no action has been taken against the culprits so far. “The history of the state is being tampered with,” he said.

The party has also lodged police complaints at Manali and Lahaul regarding the incident. Lahaul-Spiti district Congress president Gialchhen Thakur lodged a general diary report at the police station in Keylong.

According to the Congress, Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation of the tunnel at Dhundhi in Solang on June 28, 2010, in the presence of then BJP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, BRO officials and the public.

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