The determination with which our engineers are piercing the heart of Himalayan rocks or cutting the path through rugged Pir Panchal crags, or building bridges over serpentine rivers and nullahs is to be seen to be appreciated. Kashmir is fast loosing her millennia long isolation in the lap of mountain. In terms of connectivity, be it the iron rails or asphalted roads, the State of Jammu and Kashmir is entering an era of new history and new geography. The Banihal-Qazigund 12 km long railway tunnel will be supplemented by a Banihal-Qazigund four lane 8 km long road tunnel under the forbidding Pir Panchal. The Chief Minister on visiting these historical sites made the right assessment of the impact of this marvel of connectivity on economic and social life of the people of the entire state. The purpose is to banish poverty, unemployment and backwardness from the state. Two important sectors of our State’s economy will find extraordinary boost. These are tourism and horticulture.
The mega connectivity project in J&K is an ample proof that our road and rail building capacity and expertise have touched new heights. We are in a position to lend our expertise to other developing countries in the world. This is a tribute to the vision of our policy planners who laid all important emphasis on the role of science and technology as the most dependable tool of development. Having planned and brought under execution the four lanning and railway project as it is today, we hope that the next phase of connectivity in J&K should be rail link between Jammu and Poonch in Jammu region and Baramulla and Lolab in Kashmir region. These links do not entail either tunnelling or bridging at high cost. But the utility of this connectivity project will be considerable.
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