It has been more than 30 years waiting for Karnah residents who were cut off for almost six months during winter to hear this good news of the much awaited and needed tunnel on Sadhna Pass. The announcement by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in Doda surprised all in the remotest tehsil of Jammu and Kashmir as their ear drums got tingling of elixir following the reports reaching them via from far off Doda. Ideally, Gadkari should have made this announcement in Tanghdar, the centre of Karnah but he chose it in the town of his colleague Dr Jitendra Singh who also has been in the thick of this demand as hundreds of residents had approached him in Delhi seeking his intervention. Karnah remains cut off from December to April every year as the Kupwara-Karnah road gets blocked due to the accumulation of 20 feet of snow at Sadhna Pass, which is over 11, 000 feet above the sea level. The Sadhna Pass was named after famed bollywood of yesteryears Sadhna whose hair style was talk of every town during those days and the name was probably given by the soldiers who traversed the hard trek of this pass in late sixties. It was previously called Nastachun pass and is located in the vast Shams Bari mountainous range about 3000 m above sea level. The number of accidents on this pass are in hundreds with every year bodies reaching homes in Karnah due to dangerous curves and cuts of the road in winter. It is maintained by Border Roads Organisation but every year the maintenance has been massive for army logistics to reach the line of control to Titwal. The demand for the tunnel gained momentum after Centre gave push to Zojila Tunnel which would connect Leh to Srinagar in all weather days. The movement in Karnah was led in the form of Sadhna Tunnel Coordination Committee which is on the forefront of the demand and they successfully achieved what politicians including National Conference, Congress, PDP or others failed in more than three decades. They had not left any stone unturned from PMO to Press Colony to reach out to all in their pursuit to tunnel goal. Earlier, a detailed project report (DPR) for construction of the 6.12 kilometer tunnel was formulated but due to shortage of funds got delayed. Gadkari’s intervention and announcement has brought a new lease of life among Karnah residents. Notwithstanding the Army’s go ahead decades ago, the political push for its nod was lacking and lagging which was apparent and finally the struggle of the border people has light at the end of tunnel.