DPR approved, work to start soon'
Arvind Sharma
Jammu: Giving a major boost to development in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) after the abrogation of Article 370, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is going to construct two (2) high-tech tunnels in J&K on the National Highway connecting this UT with rest of the country, sources informed.
Two tunnels will come up at Banihal and Ramban districts of Jammu region, official sources informed. The tunnel on National Highway at Banihal will of 4.25 kms length, while the Ramban tunnel have the length of 4.5 kms, official sources informed.
These 2 tunnels have been proposed in Ramban and Banihal areas prone to landslides and shooting stones, which often lead to closure of the national Highway connecting J&K with rest of the country, they informed.
“The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the two new high-tech tunnels has been approved and the work for these will start soon,” Regional Officer, NHAI, Rohin Gupta, confirmed the Northlines when contacted.
More importantly, these new tunnels will be equipped with high-tech sensor technique, sources informed.
This will be for the time in Jammu and Kashmir, when sensor technique will be used in the tunnels, they informed.
As of now, the existing tunnels in J&K have no sensor technique which means the concerned authorities have to check the tunnels manually on regular basis for their maintenance and to carry out the repair and other allied works.
“The high-tech sensor technique to be used in these new tunnels will inform the people in the control well in advance regarding the faults, cracks, the repair and the maintenance works to be carried out in the tunnels,” they said.
This will help in a large way to avoid tragedies and the losses, the possibility of which was always there in the existing tunnels of J&K which require manual checking on regular basis, they said.
Not only this, these two new tunnels will provide all weather connectivity to J&K with rest of the country besides reducing the travelling distance, they said.
The two new tunnels, once constructed, will give a major boost to the economy of J&K, they said, adding, “there will be no frequent closure of the National Highway due to shooting stones and landslides after operationalization of these tunnels”.
Gupta said that these 2 new tunnels will provide all weather connectivity to J&K with rest of the country.
“This National Highway is also strategically very important, and once the 2 new proposed tunnels become operational not only the security of the country but our economy will also get a major boost,” Gupta said.
Due to frequent closure the National Highway, the vehicles carrying essential items like oil, petroleum, vegetables, raw material for factories and industries besides numerous items and material remain stranded, which not only causes big economic loss but also brings problems for the commoners.
It may be informed that the sensor based high-tech tunnels are there in the European and other developed countries.
