India’s prime minister marked the opening of a tunnel in the northeast of disputed Kashmir that will grant all-year accessibility to a town that is isolated by heavy snow each winter.

Mr Modi opened the Z- Morh (turn) tunnel – a 6.5km road in the resort town of Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir. The town denotes the end of the conifer-clad mountains of the Kashmir Valley before Ladakh begins across the rocky Zojila mountain pass. The tunnel will now grant it accessibility for the first time all year round.