Authorities are working on a mission mode to complete the Banihal-Qazigund tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu highway as it will not only reduce the distance but also make the road fair weather.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway remains closed not only during the winter months but also during the summers for days together because of the landslides, etc, on the stretch of Banihal sector and this 8.5-km-long double tube tunnel will bypass all such stretches.
Officials told the media on Sunday that it would be completed in a few weeks and this tunnel will reduce the road distance on Srinagar-Jammu highway by 16 km.
The work on this tunnel was started in 2011, and the government has spent over Rs 2,000 crore so far as this tunnel will bypass the stretch of the road prone to heavy snowfall and landslides.
Officials said that currently they are doing the testing, commissioning process and very soon it would be thrown open for the traffic. They told the media that they are currently engaged to fit all the required equipment including ventilation and electric system. In this tunnel, officials said, there would be hundreds of junk fans besides two 234 modern CCTV cameras and a fire fighting system in place.
As the government is keen to make the tunnel operational, it would be a big boost to the trade and business in Jammu and Kashmir because hundreds of trucks laden with essential commodities used to get stranded on this road for weeks due to landslides and snowfall.