Opening of Chenani-Nashri tunnel put off by few months

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 29

The opening of India’s longest Chenani-Nashri road tunnel has been delayed by a couple of months.

Due to frequent landslides on the Nashri side in Ramban district, the authorities are planning of new alignment of the approach road to the tunnel, which has been damaged by a landslide.

This landslide has totally damaged the approach road and despite repeated attempts construction companies haven’t been able to stabilise the slide, which could have paved way for the opening of the tunnel at the earliest. As landslides are continuously damaging the approach, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), which overlooks the work on the tunnel project, and construction companies have decided to go for a new approach road to avoid landslides.

“The landslide has hit the northern side at Nashri, which is creating problem. We are re-aligning the approach road and by January next year, tunnel will be thrown open,” said an official of the NHAI.

The tunnel was expected to be thrown open by mid-December, but now opening has been delayed.

This 9.2-km-long tunnel will connect the Chenani (south end) area of Udhampur district with the Nashri (north end) area in Ramban district and will reduce the length of Jammu-Srinagar national highway by around 31 km. The tunnel will bypass the hilly terrain of Patnitop and will make the movement of people easy. The Jammu-Srinagar national highway is a lifeline for Kashmir valley, Ladakh and several districts of the Jammu region on which more than 15,000 vehicles ply on daily basis. Convoys of security forces also move on this highway and at the time of rain or snow traffic gets disturbed. The construction of this tunnel will allow all-weather road.