Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 22: Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways (RTH), Nitin Gadkari said here today that the state-of-the-art Chenani-Nashri Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir will reduce journey time between Jammu and Srinagar by two hours. Not only this, it will be an all-weather travel option and will bring down the travel distance by over 40 kms. with an overall fuel saving by average Rs.27 lakh per day for the vehicles plying on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Briefing the media here today along with Union Minister and MP from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency Dr Jitendra Singh, Nitin Gadkari disclosed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consented to dedicate to the public this 10 kms. long tunnel on 2nd April afternoon. He said, the Prime Minister has also been requested to visit the tunnel, where he will also be introduced to the engineers and technical experts who contributed to the construction and completion of the project within a reasonable span of time.
Highlighting the main features of the tunnel, Gadkari said, the length of the entire tunnel project is 10.89 kms. and it has unique features like parallel escape tunnels with 5 metre carriageway and 2.50 metre vertical clearance. There are also 29 cross-passages at a distance of every 300 metres, he said.
Describing it as a state-of-the-art engineering marvel created in the most difficult terrains of Himalayas, Gadkari said, this is a compliment to the genius of the engineers and other experts. He said, it is the longest highway tunnel in India and Asia’s first longest bi-directional highway tunnel with fully transverse ventilation system. In addition, he said, there is a fully integrated tunnel control system to regulate communication, power supply, ventilation, incident detection, firefight system, SOS call box, etc.
Dr Jitendra Singh, while addressing the media, described it as a historic monument for Jammu & Kashmir and said, he was proud that such a majestic piece of creation had come up in his Lok Sabha constituency. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for according high priority to Jammu & Kashmir and also thanked Nitin Gadkari for having cleared for J&K Rs 40,000 crore worth of road and bridges projects which is a record amount ever sanctioned by Government of India.
Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that as a run-up to the inauguration of this tunnel by Prime Minister, Udhampur district had been recently granted a number of unique gifts from Government of India which included Rs 170.5 crore grant for cleaning of River Devika, construction of new Radio Station, opening of Passport Centre, grant of Rs 10 crore for Sports Stadium and Rs 350 crore for PMGSY roads.
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