The 8.5 km all-weather hi-tech tunnel connecting Qazigund and Banihal in Jammu & Kashmir is expected to open for public this year. The tunnel was built at a cost of Rs 2,100 crores and will keep Kashmir connected to the rest of the country throughout year.
The existing Jawahar tunnel in the region is at an elevation of 2,194 metres making it prone to avalanches, which have led to closure and bottlenecks on the 265-km all-weather highway.
The new Banihal-Qazigund tunnel’s elevation is 1,790 metres, 400 metres below the Jawahar tunnel. This makes it less prone to avalanches.
Work on the project started in June 2011. The tunnel is expected to reduce the distance between Banihal and Qazigund by 16 km. It has two parallel tubes, one for each direction, which are interconnected by passages at every 500 metres.
The tunnel will have forced ventilation for extracting smoke and stale air and for infusing fresh air. It will have state-of-the-art monitoring and control systems for security.
