"The tunnel has been made water-proof by providing a continuous PVC membrane between the primary and secondary lining. It is equipped with state-of-the-art air quality monitoring, communications, fire-fighting and emergency rescue systems," an engineer at the site told IANS, not wishing to be identified.
Built at a cost of Rs.1,300 crores ($213 million), the tunnel has reduced the surface distance between the Qazigund town in the Valley and Banihal town in the Jammu region by 18 km, besides providing an all-weather surface link between the two regions.
The over 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway, till today the only surface link between the landlocked Valley and the rest of the country, would often remain closed for days without end in the winter months due to heavy snowfall on the Banihal sector of the highway.
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