Tracks improved on Amarnath cave shrine route: BRO
Rajouri/Jammu, May 14
Director General of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan on Tuesday said the pilgrims planning to visit Amarnath cave shrine would experience “improved tracks” this year.
Work complete
- BRO DG Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan said pilgrims visiting Amarnath shrine would experience improved tracks this year
- DG said BRO has completed the widening work and also covered the surface with blocks and attended curves and slopes
- The work of laying roadside railing, sidewalls at vulnerable locations and drainage for better outlet of rain water also completed
The 52-day pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir will commence from the twin tracks — traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in Ganderbal district — on June 29.
“I am back from the Baltal (base camp). Last year, we were assigned with the task of widening the track which was important for the safety of the devotees. We have completed the widening work and also covered the surface with blocks and attended curves and slopes,” the DG BRO told reporters on the sidelines of a tunnel breakthrough function in Rajouri.
He said the BRO has also completed the most important work of laying roadside railing and sidewalls at vulnerable locations especially in the areas prone to shooting stones from the hillocks to keep the pilgrims safe. Drainage was also completed on the tracks for better outlet of rain water, Lt Gen Srinivasan said.
“We are presently working on Nimu-Padam-Darcha road (in the Union Territory of Ladakh), which will connect Manali to Leh through Darcha and Nimmu on Srinagar-Kargil–Leh national highway, providing a third axis (apart from Manali-Leh and Srinagar-Leh which connects Ladakh to the hinterland),” he said.
He said the BRO constructed 13,000 feet high Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh was dedicated to the people in March, while over four-km long Shinku La tunnel at a height of 15,800 along Nimmu-Padam-Darcha road will be a reality soon.
