Union Secretary Road Transport & Highways visits Banihal-Qazigund Tunnel; Inspects construction works

Banihal (Ramban) : Union Secretary, Road Transport and Highways, Giridhar Aramane, today visited Banihal to assess the status of construction work on double-tube four-lane tunnel between Qazigund and Banihal which is a prominent part of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway widening project.In this regard, Union Secretary chaired a brief meeting at Banihal and reviewed the progress on the prestigious project with a detailed assessment of all vital aspects of the construction work.Union Secretary observed that most of the civil, mechanical and electrical works have been completed while the toll plazas on both the terminals are also ready. He said that only security gadgets are pending due to COVID-19 restrictions on flights as they are being procured from Singapore. He assured that the mega project will be thrown open for public within weeks, which will reduce the travel distance on the highway by 16 km.Pertinently, the construction work on the 8km tunnel cutting across the mountain range was started in 2011 by the ‘Navyug Engineering Company’ after approval by the NHAI.According to construction agencies, the trial of various facilities inside the tunnel including ventilation set up and CCTVs installed inside the tunnel has already started and the tunnel is expected to be thrown open in coming weeks.Chairman, National Highway Authority, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, Mussarat-ul-Islam, SSP, P.D.Nitya, ADC, Harbans Lal, SDM, Banihal, Zaheer Abbas besides MD, JCM, J S Rathore, Developers Private Limited and Project Management Consultant, Qazigund- Banihal tunnel attended the meeting.