The ”cracks” appearing beforehand must definitely mean more than what meets the eye and must be unravelled as to why they appeared in the flyover of the approach road towards Jammu end to the much hyped but strategically important Banihal Qazigund tunnel. The flyover has developed a crack which , however, surfaced before formal inauguration of the tunnel. Although the constructing agency – National Highway Authority of India -has classified the crack to be of minor level , yet the concerned authorities taking the matter seriously is not only expected but fully warranted as well. Should this happen only within two to three weeks of trial run on the flyover is serious looking to the fact that had normal traffic been allowed to use the flyover to pass through the tunnel, serious consequences thereof could have not been ruled out . Hence, it is in the fitness of the things to seek an audit report from the executing agency. Needless to add that 8.5 km. long Banihal Qazigund tunnel built at a cost of Rs.2100 crore with all its advantages in respect of time and travel was opened for trial run on August 4 and is scheduled to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister .
Agreed, the crack being of no serious nature and having developed on the blacktopped road surface covering an area of 2.5 square metre and may take a week or so in getting fully repaired yet it needs to be ascertained as to what precisely were the causes of this glaring weakness in the construction process .We have otherwise been laying stress on the fact that along with speed in the work in important projects like the one under reference, quality too had to be kept in consideration rather accorded priority and under no circumstances compromised. The crack having been noticed by the workers during trial traffic coming from Kashmir towards Jammu did not , however, affect the movement in the core tunnel, still should not be taken casually as a measure resulting in exercising due caution by the constructing agency in future .
However, the problem being at the level of the surface only and the pillars of the flyover reported to be safe and perfect, the crack reportedly is going to be repaired by adding fresh material in the crack and removing the earlier one as per the relevant technical ways to deal with such problems. However, such problems even of minor nature though should not occur, yet looking to the overall prestigious project which is all laced with making the journey between the twin capital cities more comfortable , with all weather use and reducing the travelling time considerably, cannot be ignored . In the meantime, ongoing four lane Jammu Srinagar National Highway Project when fully completed and thrown for public use was going to change the face of the road travel between the twin capital cities of the UT. In the meantime, let us hope by now the unwanted crack is fully repaired.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel