IN a renewed push to complete the Zojila tunnel, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari inspected the ongoing work at the tunnel in Baltal on Tuesday. Gadkari later tweeted that tourism in Jammu and Kashmir will increase by 2-3 times after the construction of the tunnel. He said that the government was determined to achieve the connectivity between Kashmir to Kaniyakumari in the true sense. He revealed that as many as 19 tunnels are being constructed in Jammu and Kashmir at a cost of Rs 25 thousand crore. The union minister gave more details: The two-lane tunnel, he said, is a 7.57 meter high horseshoe-shaped single tube that will pass under the Zojila Pass in the Himalayas between Ganderbal in Kashmir and Drass town in Kargil district of Ladakh. The project includes a smart tunnel system, constructed using the New Austrian Tunneling Method. It is also equipped with facilities such as CCTV, radio control, uninterrupted power supply, ventilation. “The Government of India has also saved Rs 5000 crore by the use of modern technology in this project,” the minister said.
Once complete, the tunnel will usher in an all-weather connectivity between Kashmir Valley and Ladakh. Earlier, Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), which is executing the tunnel, said that the project is likely to be completed by December 2026.
The work on the showpiece infrastructure project had halted in 2018 after IL&FS, the big-time infrastructure lender, went bust. Now the government is making an effort to complete the tunnel at the earliest. The tunnel will reduce the distance from Baltal to Minamarg to 13 km from the current 40 km and the travel time will be cut by an hour and a half. Also, at 14.15 km, the Zojila tunnel will be India’s longest road tunnel, and Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel. There is one more tunnel close to Zojila: the 6.5 km long Z-Morh which will connect Gagangir with Shetkari. The tunnels between them will ensure that Ladakh no longer will remain an inaccessible, remote region cut off from the rest of the world for six months through winter.
There are other important infrastructure projects in progress whose completion will enhance the connectivity in J&K and Ladakh. And once completed, the railway line and the roads will stitch Kashmir together with concrete and asphalt and connect places and people alienated from each other by geography. There is an urgent need to expedite the work on these projects to realize the goal of a truly integrated J&K with its limitless opportunities for trade and travel.
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