With a major development in the ongoing ‘Char Dham’ road project in Garhwal Himalayas, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) achieved a major milestone in the construction of a 450 meter tunnel below the densely populated Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road (NH 94) in Uttarakhand. The perfect linkup of the construction teams from north and south portals of the tunnel was accomplished amid challenges of COVID-19 and restrictions due to the nationwide lockdown.
By October later this year, almost three months ahead of time, the tunnel will be through for traffic. The construction of this 6 km road and 450 m tunnel is being done at a cost of Rs 88 crore. Earlier the date of completion of this project was scheduled for January 2021, but this milestone has been achieved due to the perfect linkup of construction teams from the North and South. The teams managed the challenging task of digging the tunnel through, especially when the movement was restricted across the country.
Minister for Road and Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari congratulated Lt Gen Harpal Singh DG BRO, and interacted with the BRO team through video conferencing on the work being completed ahead of time in the Chardham Project. Once completed it will help in facilitating speedy movement of traffic.
The BRO team had to deal with issues related to land acquisition, weak geology of the area; dense built up area which was right about the tunnel, which increased the chances sinking. The team also had to deal with persistent water seepage. Work on the North Portal of the tunnel was started in January 2019. However since issues related to land acquisition, compensation and safety of the houses were resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, the work on the South Portal took off only in October. This loss of the time between January to October was covered by different shifts working day and night using the latest technology and machines which were provided by M/s Bharat Construction, Dehradun. Latest Austrian Technology has been used in the construction of the Chamba Tunnel.
Facts about Chardham Project
The whole project is estimated to cost Rs 12,000 crore.
The BRO has been given the task of constructing 250 kilometres of national highway which is leading to the shrines of Gangotri and Badrinath.
Majority of the work on these projects are on track and are expected to be completed by October 2020
Majority of the works are progressing ahead of schedule and five projects are slated for completion by Oct 2020.
HPC has been nominated by the Supreme Court for Chardham Yojna.