Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 9: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag will be flying to Drass in Ladakh region on July 23 on the occasion of 16th Vijay Diwas of Kargil war to pay tributes to the martyrs, who had laid down their lives in mountain locked Kargil district to recapture the heights from Pakistani jawans.
Meanwhile, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, who is on four days visit to Jammu and Kashmir, will visit here on July 12 while Union Minister for Roads and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari will be inspecting Chenani-Nashri tunnel in Udhampur district on July 13.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Parrikar and Gen Suhag will straightway fly to Drass from New Delhi on July 23, three days before July 26, the day Indian Army had won the war against Pakistan in Kargil heights in 1999 and since then the day is celebrated as `Vijay Diwas’.
The Defence Minister and the Army chief will pay tributes at Kargil War Memorial set up at Drass and inter-act with Army Commanders, jawans and local people before flying back to New Delhi. The `Kargil Vijay Diwas’ is celebrated on July 26 every year to mark India’s victory over Pakistan Army in the historic war.
In the month of May, Parrikar had visited Ladakh and Siachen base camp to review situation along China frontiers. This will be his second visit to Jammu and Kashmir in two months.
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, who is on four days visit of Jammu and Kashmir, will visit Jammu on July 12. He is scheduled to have darshan of Shri Amarnath ji tomorrow and stay in Srinagar on July 11 for review of railway network. He will reach here on July 12 and fly to holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji for darshan of the Goddess. He will return to Jammu and have meeting with Railways and other officers for review of ongoing expansion of the tracks and stations including Katra-Banihal rail section and discuss other issues including running of more trains to Jammu and Katra.
He will return to New Delhi in Jhelum Express.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Roads and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari is also visiting Chenani- Nashri tunnel on July 13 when it reaches the “breakthrough point” in which the two ends of tunnel will be connected at Udhampur district.
“The Union Minister for Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari will be visiting the site of the tunnel on July 13 to attend a function on reaching the breakthrough point of the tunnel,” sources said.
This will be Gadkari’s second visit to Jammu in less than a month. He had visited Kathua and laid foundation stone of Keerian Gandyal bridge on June 26.
“We are holding a ceremony to celebrate reaching to the breakthrough point on the Chenani-Nashri tunnel as we have reached a point where both the ends of the tunnel meet inside the tunnel,” sources in the National Highway Authority of India (NHA) said.
The work on the one of India’s largest road tunnel, the Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway, is expected to be completed by June next year, sources said.
They said they have reached the breakthrough point in just 47 months which in itself is a first of its kind in the Himalayan region.
“It will take 10 or 11 more months to throw the tunnel open for traffic, as we have to carry out other works inside the tunnel,” sources said.
The work on the tunnel, costing Rs 2518 crore, was started in May, 2012. The tunnel is part of the four-laning North-South corridor project which involved construction of a 10.9 km-long highway, including two 9 km-long tunnels.
The New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) of sequential excavation and support is being used to construct the tunnel, sources said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel