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| It is official now; Qazigund-Banihal tunnel to open for Traffic by March 31 | | 96 % work completed on double tubed four lane subway constructed at whopping 2K crores | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 5: The much awaited Qazigund-Banihal road tunnel on Jammu- Srinagar National Highway is all set to be thrown open for vehicular traffic before March 31, this year. The work, as per the latest details is in the final stage and 96 percent of the project has been completed while as remaining 4 percent is slated to be finished by next week.
Official sources told Early Times that the tunnel will be thrown open for the vehicular traffic by or before March 31 as almost all preparations for its inauguration have been completed. “More than 96 percent has been completed. There has been clear cut directions issued by the National Highways Authority of India that the remaining 4 percent of the pending work must complete by next week so that the tunnel could be inaugurated by March 31. There are no second thoughts about it. The government is severely strict vis-à-vis the timely completion of the project,” a senior official associated with the project told Early Times newspaper.
The official added that the four lanes have been built in the tunnel. It also has two tubes like the Jawahar Tunnel. While one is for the departure of vehicles and the other one is for their arrival. The official added that heavy and large vehicles will also be able to pass easily within the tunnel and that if one tube has to be closed for military needs, the other tube will be able to move two-sided vehicles simultaneously. According to the official, safe passage corridors have been built inside the tunnel to go from one tube to another tube after every 500 meters. They can be used in any emergency situation, said the senior official.
At present, the condition of the national highway also called NH-44 is such that one has to cross the Jawahar Tunnel from the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway to reach Kashmir from various parts of the country by road. The new tunnel will become an alternative to Jawahar Tunnel and that although heavy snowfall and landslides occur at many places on the highway, most of this problem comes between Banihal and Qazigund. However, after the inauguration of the tunnel, NH44 will almost become am all weather highway, reducing time and distance to a great extent.
The Banihal section is considered as the most treacherous of all portions due to its geology and extensive ravine system replete with deep gorges. The traffic chaos is often throwing the highway out of the gear, halting the vehicular movement sometimes for days altogether.
Qazigund-Banihal tunnel is 8.5 km long at an elevation of 1,790 m (5,870 ft) in Pir Panjal range in J&K and is set to reduce the total distance by 16 kilometers. It is being constructed by Indian infrastructure major Navayuga Engineering Co. (NEC) at a cost of around Rs 2000 crore. |
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