Chenani-Nashri tunnel all set for inauguration

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Chenani, March 28

The travellers on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway will soon heave a big sigh of relief as the longest tunnel of the country is all set to be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

The 9.2-km-long Chenani-Nashri tunnel, which will bypass three major stations — Kud, Patnitop and Batote — on the highway, is ready to be opened to the public. Modi will visit Chenani on Sunday to inaugurate the tunnel.

The Prime Minister will arrive at the technical airport, Jammu, from there he will take off in a chopper for Chenani. After inaugurating the tunnel at 3 pm, Modi will drive inside the tunnel and inspect the control room. Later, he will address a rally at Udhampur.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in PMO and MP Jugal Kishore will accompany the PM.

Completed at a cost of Rs 2,519 crore, India’s longest tunnel will reduce the distance by 31 km. The tunnel will also result in saving fuel worth Rs 27 lakh per day, said an agency.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has constructed the 9.2-km-long main tunnel, 9.2-km-long escape tunnel and one kilometre (in total) cross-passages inside the mountainous range of lower Shivalik. The approach road to the tunnel from the old highway from the Chenani side is 1,340-m long and from the Nashri side it is 563-m in length.

The main tunnel has the carriageway of 9.35 m with a vertical clearance of 5 m and walkway of 1.30 m on either side.

The parallel escape tunnel has 5 m carriageway and 2.50 m vertical clearance. A total of 29 cross-passages are 7 m wide and 35 m long with 2.5 m vertical clearance.

IL&FS, which has completed the tunnel, has been given the contract of maintenance for 15 years.

Ashutosh Chandwar, Regional Manager, IL&FS, said, “The tunnel has been constructed in a record time, as 19 km of tunnelling has never been done within four years.”

The work was started on May 28, 2011, and it was expected to be completed in May 2016. The tunnelling was completed on July 13, 2015, after which other equipment and other technical constructions were made.

The NHAI has taken care of security inside the tunnel. With 124 CCTV cameras installed for surveillance inside the tunnel, a team in the control room will monitor activities of the travellers. In case of any violation, the control room will inform the Traffic Police posted outside the tunnel about the vehicle number and violation. Traffic cops will fine the vehicle-owners on the spot.