Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City has started works to conserve Churia Tunnel which, according to late Swiss geologist Tony Hagen, is the first man-made tunnel in South Asia.

The historic 500 metre long tunnel was constructed in 1917 to connect the country’s first motorable road between Amlekhgunj and Bhimphedi.

The tunnel has even inspired a song that celebrates the king’s (Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah) wisdom in commissioning the tunnel’s construction that made motor access possible in Makwanpur district: “Hamra raja kya akkildari/Lyaye motor Churia ma bhwang pari”-which essentially translates to “How wise is our king/ For he brought a motor by digging a hole through Churia.”

Today, the tunnel lies in a dilapidated state due to decades of disuse and lack of maintenance. It has hardly come to use since the construction of the Pathalaiya-Hetauda road.

Locals and conservationists have long been raising voices about its conservation. It was only recently that the Hetauda Sub-metropolitan initiated works to restore and preserve the outer portion of the tunnel. The project is being carried out by Churia Mai Temple and Tunnel Conservation Committee.

“The tunnel has been in a sorry state for a long time. People were concerned that a landslide might obliterate the whole structure if immediate steps are not taken towards its conservation,” Prem Bomjan, the chair of the committee, said.

According to Bomjan, the outer part of the tunnel will be restored by the committee and the Department of Archaeology will reconstruct the interior. The sub-metropolitan has already designed a map for the tunnel.

A statue of Dillijung Thapa, the first civil engineering graduate of Nepal and the tunnel designer, will also be constructed at the tunnel site.

Thapa also designed the Amlekhgunj to Bhimphedi road stretch and the Churia Temple, which lies at the starting point of the historic tunnel.