Chenani-Nashri tunnel: Nitin Gadkari promises Rs 60,000 crore infrastructure projects for J&K

Minister for Road and Transport Nitin Gadkari on Sunday promised Rs 60,000 crore road infrastructure works in upcoming two years.”This tunnel will result into job creation, J&K’s hotels, motels, and related businesses will get a boost, and that will create new job opportunities for unemployed youths of Kashmir,” Nitin Gadkari said.

Earlier, while talking to ANI, Gadkari had called Chenani-Nashri a state-of-the-art project. “Chenani-Nashri tunnel is state-of-the-art project. It’ll increase tourism and it will increase employment potential and ensure supply of essential goods. It is a revolutionary step,” Gadkari told ANI. He said that the tunnel is expected to cut travel time from Jammu to Srinagar by at least two hours which will increase all time tourism in the state.

“It is a very proud moment for all of us. World standard sophisticated electronic arrangements are made.



International safety has been implemented in this,” he added. Prior to Gadkari’s address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s longest, Chenani-Nashri tunnel, on the Jammu-Srinagar highway amid high security. The tunnel is aimed to provide relief to travellers on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, as it will reduce the travel time on National Highway 44 between Jammu and Srinagar by about 2 hours by shortening the distance between the cities by 31 km.

The Prime Minister dedicated 9.2-km-long tunnel to the nation. The new tunnel will bypass three major stations — Kud, Patnitop and Batote — on the highway.

The tunnel, built at the cost of Rs 2,500 crore in a record time of 5 and a half years by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Ltd, is located at an altitude of 1,200 metres (nearly 4,000 feet) in difficult Himalayan terrain.