Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 10: The State Government has approached Planning Commission for Finance for construction of a tunnel on Mughal Road to make it all weather road.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Mir Saifullah in reply to a Calling Attention Notice by Dr Shehnaz Ganai, informed the Upper House that in order to make Mughal Road an all-weather road, the State has forwarded the Detailed Project Road (DPR) for construction of a tunnel on the Mughal Road to the Planning Commission.
He said an amount of Rs 596.45 crore have been incurred on the project ending September, 2013.
The road is of BT status with overall achievement of 93.22 per cent.
He said out of the total length of 84.10 kms, a stretch of 20 kms traverses through the Middle Himalayan Mountain Pass at Pir-ki-Gali.
This stretch of the road witnesses heavy snow fall during winters (November-April), as a result of which the road gets disconnected for most of the winter months.
Accordingly, it felt imperative to construct a tunnel for which pre-feasibility studies have already been conducted by Konkan Railway Corporation and Snow Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE).
This has also been recommended by the Member Planning Commission during his inspection of the road and 3rd party consultants deputed by the Planning Commission.
Besides making the road all weather, the tunnel would also reduce the distance of route by almost 12 kms, he added.
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