Jammu, Dec 16: The National Highways Authority of India has suspended work on the excavation of an 800-metre-long tunnel along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district following the appearance of cracks.
Conforming this, a senior NHAI officer here said that the tunnel had been experiencing pressure for the past few days that resulted in the appearance of cracks.
‘Our engineers are examining it and the work has been suspended as a precautionary measure,” he said, adding that all the men and machinery have been removed from inside the tunnel.
The work on the tunnel at Mehar was started nearly one-and-a-half years ago simultaneously at two portals (P1 and P2), sources said, adding that it was aimed to bypass the landslide-prone cafeteria morh area by connecting the Mehar area with the bridge constructed by Beacon near Ramban.
Nearly 400 mts of the tunnel has been excavated so far, they added.
The work on P2 on Ramban side was already suspended since June last when a portion of it collapsed following an earthquake, they said.
The workers, along with those from P2 side, continued the work on P1 falling on the Jammu side, an official said. ‘However, last week, deformation started inside the tunnel on P1 side and the work was suspended following the appearance of cracks,” he added.
The engineers from outside the UT had visited the site to examine the spot. ‘We are waiting for a decision from the National Highways Authority of India in the matter,’ the officials said.
It is one of the three tunnels ranging from 400m – 800 m in length being built as part of the realignment of the national highway between Ramban and Banihal to bypass landslide-prone stretches along the national highway and also to reduce the distance between Jammu and Srinagar.
This has not been the first time that the under construction tunnels in mountains along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway have developed cracks.
In May last year, a portion of an under-construction tunnel near Khooni nallah in Ramban district had collapsed killing 10 workers.
The four-lane road widening project of the 270-km NH44, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was started in 2011. After having missed several deadlines, the project is likely to be completed by next year.
To have a four lane and all weather national highway between Jammu and Srinagar, the NHAI has constructed a number of road tunnels and bridges. Of these, two tunnels – Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Tunnel and the Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel – have already reduced the distance between these two capital cities of the UT by nearly 40 kilometres.
While the former with a length of 9.28 km is India’s longest road tunnel and the country’s first with a fully integrated control system bypassing snowfall and landslide prone areas between Chenani and Nashri, the latter is 8.45-km long at an elevation of 5,870 ft below Banihal Pass in the Pir Panjal mountain range.
Both the tunnels, apart from reducing road distance between Jammu and Srinagar, also minimise closure of road due to snowfall during winter.–(The Indian Express)
