More than 5,000 people have visited the Churiyamai Tunnel, the first of its kind in South Asia, in a single year.

The number of people who come to view the tunnel in Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City-15 is 5,040 in a year.

Netra Prasad Dhakal, the Sub-metropolitan City Police Chief, who is responsible for the management and security of the tunnel, informed that most of the students come to view the tunnel. Students and the general public come to view it on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays. 

The tunnel, which had been dilapidated for a long time, has been opened to tourists after reconstruction. The Provincial Transport Infrastructure Directorate had reconstructed the tunnel at a cost of 45.7 million rupees and handed it over to the Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City for management. The tunnel was inaugurated on 2081 Paush 8 and opened to the general public.

Manoj Kumar Subedi, the Revenue Branch Chief of Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City, said that a revenue of 165,000 rupees was collected from those who came to view the tunnel in a year. From Shrawan to Mangsir of the current fiscal year, 2,033 domestic and foreign tourists have viewed the tunnel.

The entrance fee for viewing the tunnel has been fixed at Rs 50 per person for Nepali citizens, Rs 100 per person for foreigners, and Rs 20 per person for students. The tunnel was built in 1917 during the time of the then Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher. The middle part of the country's historic tunnel had collapsed and was in a very dangerous condition.

The tunnel is located next to the Churiyamai Temple in Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City-15. The provincial government has given high priority to the renovation of the approximately 225-meter-long tunnel. Although it was said that the 198-meter-long tunnel would be rebuilt by 2079 BS Baisakh 19, the work on the tunnel was completed only a year later than the scheduled time due to various reasons. The width of the tunnel has been rebuilt in its original form with a height of 3 feet and a width of 2.5 meters.

The renovation of the 'Churiamai Tunnel', built under the leadership of Nepal's first graduate engineer Dillijung Thapa, was completed and handed over to the Directorate of Transport Infrastructure, Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City a year ago. Electric lights have been installed inside the tunnel. Although the tunnel is open to the public, entry of any vehicles is prohibited. The Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City has built a half-length statue of the tunnel designer, Engineer Thapa, next to the tunnel built 108 years ago.

Engineer Thapa had also designed the road from Amlekhgunj to Bhimphedi. The Churia Tunnel between Amlekhgunj and Bhimphedi had to be dug or box-cut. Since there were no tools for box-cutting, the tunnel was dug by humans. 

The Nepali Army was used to build the tunnel on the orders of Chandrashamsher Rana. Thapa was an engineer in the Nepali Army. Engineer Thapa also built the Churiyamai Temple. It is said that he saw a goddess in that place in a dream and said to dig a tunnel only after worshipping her, so he worshipped her and dug the tunnel and also built the temple. The tunnel was built using mud, bricks, lime and mortar along with the technology of the time. 

The tunnel, which is 700 meters long, 9 feet wide and 10 feet high, was built in a shape that allows freight vehicles to enter in waves. Small and light vehicles used to travel through the tunnel for more than a decade. After the construction of the Pathlaiya-Hetauda road, this tunnel stopped operating.

Although the entrance to both sides of the tunnel was open, it was blocked after the middle part of the tunnel collapsed. About 40 meters of the middle part of the tunnel collapsed. After the repair of that part, it is now possible to cross the tunnel.

This tunnel was built during the construction of a road connecting Amlekhgunj in Bara with Bhimphedi, the old headquarters of Makawanpur. ‘At that time, the residents of this area had composed a song. ‘Our king is so arrogant, bring a motor to Churema Bhwangpari’ they used to sing.

The tunnel built to travel from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu made the lives of Nepalis very easy at that time. ‘If this tunnel were not there at that time, small and light vehicles would not have been able to travel to Bhimphedi,’ said Dr. Bhim Timlasina, Social Development Officer of Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City. ‘This is the tunnel through which world-renowned geologist Dr. Tony Hagen had reached Bhimphedi in his small car. His car was also taken from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu.’