Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the country’s longest road tunnel that links Kashmir Valley with Jammu by an all-weather route and reduces the distance by 31 km.
The 9-km long ‘Chenani–Nashri Tunnel’, built at the cost of Rs 2,500 crore, was dedicated to the nation by the prime minister in Chenani in presence of Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
After the inauguration, Modi, along with Vohra and Mehbooba, travelled in an open jeep through the tunnel for some distance.
The prime minister, the governor and the chief minister then posed for a photograph with the engineers who were involved in construction of the tunnel.
The tunnel, bypassing snow-bound upper reaches, will reduce the journey time by two hours and provide a safe, all-weather route to commuters travelling from Jammu and Udhampur to Ramban, Banihal and Srinagar.
The estimated value of daily fuel savings will be to the tune of Rs 27 lakh, according to the PMO.
The tunnel is equipped with world-class security systems, and is expected to boost tourism and economic activities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The key features of the tunnel are that it is a single-tube bi-directional tunnel, with a 9.35-metre carriageway, and a vertical clearance of 5 metres.
There is also a parallel escape tunnel, with ‘Cross Passages’ connecting to the main tunnel at intervals of 300 metres.
It also has smart features such as an Integrated Traffic Control System; Surveillance, Ventilation and Broadcast Systems; Fire Fighting System; and SOS call-boxes at every 150 metres.
Meanwhile, normal life was affected in Kashmir Valley due to strike called by separatist groups against Modi’s visit to the state for inauguration of the tunnel.
Most of the shops, business establishments and fuel stations were shut in Srinagar — the summer capital of the state, officials said.
However, they said, the weekly flea market, locally known as Sunday market, was open as many vendors had set up their stalls along TRC Chowk-Batamaloo axis through Lal Chowk.
The officials said most of the public transport was off the roads, while private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were seen plying normally in many areas of the city.
Similar reports were received from other district headquarters of the Valley, they said.
The officials said security forces have been deployed in strength at sensitive places across the Valley to maintain law and order.
Asking people to observe a general strike, the separatists — chairmen of rival factions of Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Mohammad Yasin Malik — in a joint statement on Thursday had said ‘all rhetoric about development or construction of tunnels and roads are futile and will not succeed in luring us’.
They said the prime minister was visiting the state at a time when situation was ‘extremely gloomy’.
‘Calling or observing a shutdown does not meet the demands of the situation but there is no other option left by the authorities. We do not nourish any animosity with the Indian prime minister, but it is frightening and painful that instead of taking notice of genocide in the state, he is awarding and rewarding assassins,’ they said.
The separatists said Kashmir is a ‘political issue and not a problem related to governance, economic packages, incentives or a law and order’.
Source: Rediff