Work on 2-lane Mehar-Cafetaria road tunnel picks up pace

Ramban, Oct 8: The work on the Mehar-Cafeteria Morh two-lane tunnel in the outskirts of Ramban on the Udhampur-Ramban section of the four-lane project has picked up pace.

Officials said, “The work is going round the clock as excavation of 350-meter of this tunnel has been completed.”

“Mehar-Cafeteria stretch on the Srinagar Jammu National Highway is prone to frequent landslides and shooting stones due to fragile geology. Keeping this in mind, the project was realigned and the work on a 740-meter two-lane tunnel was started. The work on a two-lane cut and cover tunnel on the same alignment is also going on,” they informed.

Managers of the contractor company, DMR engaged by NHAI, for tunnel works, informed that 350 meters of excavation work from the Mehar side was completed and the work to complete rest (of excavation on the stretch) was going on.

They said, “The work on the C-shape 740-meter two-lane tunnel was simultaneously started from both ends i.e., from Cafeteria Morh on Ramban side and Mehar side in the year 2021. But due to bad weather and frequent landslides and shooting stones hampered the progress of tunnelling work.”

Officials said that tunnel excavation work from Cafeteria Morh on Ramban side was completely stopped a few months back. They said a few months ago, a huge landslide caused extensive damage to the tunnel from the Cafeteria Morh side. Around 60-meter of tunnel at the Cafeteria Morh side was damaged and the tunnel work was completely stopped.

However, the tunnel excavation work from the Mehar side was going on. Engineers of the tunnel construction company said, “Tunnel excavation work from the Mehar end is going on round the clock and 350 meters of excavation work of 780 meters C-Type two-lane Mehar-Cafeteria Morh tunnel on the Udhampur –Ramban section of the four-lane project was completed.”

They said that the tunnel would provide all-weather-safe road connectivity to the valley of Kashmir with the rest of the country.

This tunnel work was started in 2021 after realignment between Nashri and Banihal to bypass the treacherous stretches, including Mehar-Cafeteria near Ramban on the Udhampur-Ramban section of the four-lane project on the Srinagar Jammu National Highway.

The tunnel work at other vulnerable places, except the Digdool-Maroog tunnel, is going on. The work on another two-lane cut and cover tunnel on the same Mehar-Cafeteria stretch is also going on but at a slow pace. The Mehar-Cafeteria tunnel is vital as several road accidents due to landslides and shooting stones were reported in the past on this stretch.

Traffic congestion due to single-lane roads and the breakdown of loaded vehicles on even surfaces on the Mehar-Cafeteria stretch are causing problems for commuters and vehicle operators.

The completion of work is likely to address these problems.