Title - PM to innaugurate Pir Panjal rail tunnel tomorrow

Nearly nine years ago when, Sharanappa Yalal relocated his base to Kashmir as the project manager of the 11 km Pir Panjal railway tunnel, the longest in India, most locals told him, it was never going to happen. Yet after a three-year delay, technical snags and several complications, the Rs 800-crore project is all set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow.Besides the one of its kind tunnel, the Rs 1,800-crore Uri 240 MW Hydroelectric project, situated very close to the line of control, is also expected to take off very soon. It is learnt that the inauguration of the hydro-power project has been removed from the itinerary of the PM due to some technical snags.  The horse shoe shaped diversion tunnel, created for generating hydropower, will benefit Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh. Around 13% of the power generated will go to Jammu & Kashmir.Both projects have been executed by the Hindustan Construction Company, which had also undertaken the Bandra-Worli sea link project in Mumbai.The Pir Panjal tunnel, which runs below the 2.5 kms long Jawahar tunnel, connects Bichelri valley of Banhial in Jammu with Quazigund in Kashmir and it is expected to link J&K to the Indian railway network through the year. It is a part of the 345-km long Jammu Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Railway Link, aimed at connecting Jammu with Baramulla “Earlier due to snowfall, Jawahar tunnel would have to be closed during the winter months. But Pir Panjal tunnel is at a lower height and long enough to keep snowfall at bay,” Yalal said.

He added that the project will be very helpful for the army personnel and their cargo movement from one place to another. While both projects are of strategic importance to India, the local businesses and trade also stands to benefit by improved rail connectivity. Irtif Lone, a Srinagar based businessman said, “The freight rates would come down for raw materials if goods are brought on rail instead of trucks. This has been one hurdle to industrialisation of Kashmir. Besides, it will impact the prices of commodities also.”

Engineering Marvel

Drilling into the capricious rocks was not an easy task for both the projects. At various points the technical team encountered problems of seepage, softer topography of the rocks which made the work difficult. The Pir Panjal Tunnel projects boasts of using technology never used before in India for “safe tunneling.”

New Australian Tunneling Method was brought in for observing three-dimensional movement of the rocks and avoiding collapses whenever weaker rock was being drilled. The tunnel has also used the ballast less tracks which are easy on maintenance.

A three-metre wide road runs alongside the track inside the tunnel as a safety measure to keep the tunnel accessible under all circumstances. The tunnel walls are lined with a water proofing membrane brought from Italy for seeping water that gets drained outside, keeping the all weather tunnel dry and flood-free.

However, all the technical experiments did not pay of that well. For instance the two road headers brought in from Germany was not of much use and had to be scrapped at the end.   Tough ground to work on

Technical challenges aside, construction or any industrial activity in Kashmir comes with its own set of problems. The Uri –II Hydroelectric project in 2005 was not off to the best start with the earthquake taking a huge toll on the lives and property in the Valley. Security issues also played their part in slowing down the pace of the project.

The proximity of the dam to the Line of Control meant that the checks on movement of labour and officers working on the project were much more stringent that usual. Besides, for days together all construction work would come to a halt to the stone pelting incidents which were rife in Kashmir during 2010.

Both project combined employed 2,700 labourers who worked in three shifts all throughout the day and year. Skilled manpower came in short supply. Retaining them was another problem, since workers would leave the site for other jobs like farming or return to the villages when the winter came.

While the snowfall during the peak winters did not bring the construction activity to a complete halt, it drastically slowed down activity. Work, also had to be stopped during the Amarnath Yatra. Amid all this, getting the logistics in place and keeping the smooth supply of raw materials was a major challenge due to poor connectivity. Challenges Ahead

With several dams now constructed on the Jhelum river, Pakistan has gone for international arbitration against such moves, since it reduces the flow of water to the neighboring country. India so far has maintained its stand that it will adhere to the minimum level of flow required. Although odds are in the favour of India, final decision on the matter is yet to be made by the international court.

There are also reservations among the localites on whether trains from Baramulla to Qazigund will be able to have a smooth run when it snows, outside of the tunnel. For power situation also, not many are upbeat as it does not yet mean that the power cuts will reduce in the smaller towns and villages of Jammu and Kashmir.

“I don’t think there will be any significant impact on the power situation in the state. For so much that we generate we get so little since everything goes to the central grid,” Lone added.