NEW DELHI: Giving the intra-state connectivity a major push, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has accorded in-principle approval for work on two tunnel projects including Mughal Road tunnel and Singhpora-Vailoo tunnel.
It was further ordered that DPRs for both the projects should be prepared at the earliest while as the bidding process for Rs. 8,000 crore Zojila tunnel be finalised quickly and work on the tunnel be started.
These decisions were taken in a meeting of Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti with Union Minister for Road Transport & Shipping Nitin Gadkari here.
Mehbooba apprised the Union Minister about the necessity of constructing these tunnels, not only to improve all weather connectivity within the State but also keep the different regions connected throughout the year.
It was also decided in the meeting to consider Lakhanpur-Mahanpur-Basohli-Bani-Doda road as a new national highway in order to provide another connectivity route to the State and also get the vast area of the erstwhile Doda district connected better to the State and rest of the country.
Mehbooba also raised the issue of constructing ring roads in Jammu and Srinagar capital cities at the earliest in view of the increasing traffic density. She was informed that all preliminary works including land acquisition were proceeding at fast pace and work on both ring roads was likely to be awarded and started this year.
She also raised the issue of development and upgradation of a number of other roads including Budhal-Shopian road, Kupwara-Bungus road, Srinagar-Bandipora road, Tral-Pahalgam road, Panikhar-Pahalgam road and tunnels including Sadhna Razdan and Chatergalla tunnels.
The meeting also reviewed the status of work on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
It was informed that while the Jammu-Udhampur stretch of road is complete, work on the 66 km long Qazigund-Srinagar highway is likely to be completed this year. Besides, the Chennani-Nashri tunnel is likely to be fully completed by the end of current month.
Similarly, the DPR for Poonch-Uri road connecting Pir Panchal with Kashmir Valley is being prepared and work would commence after the same is approved, the meeting was informed.
Mehbooba also raised the issue of slow pace of dredging in river Jhelum and sought active support from the Union Ministry in this regard.
Gadkari directed that a coordinated approach be adopted by the Ministries of Water Resources, Transport and Shipping in consultation with the state government to look into the issue and sort out things at the earlier.
Advisor to Chief Minister Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, Financial Commissioner, Planning & Development B. B Vyas, Secretary, Union Ministry of Surface Transport Sanjay Mitra, Secretary, Union Ministry of Shipping Rajiv Kumar, Secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources Amarjit Singh, CMD, NHIDCL Anand Kumar, Chairman, NHAI Y. S Malik, Commissioner-Secretary, R&B Rohit Kansal, Secretary, PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control Sanjeev Verma and other officers of central and state government were present in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also met Minister for Railways, Suresh Prabhu and took up the issue of using Qazigund-Banihal railway tunnel during inclement weather.
The railways Ministry agreed to the suggestion of using the railway tunnel for movement of vehicles during bad weather.