India’s longest tunnel that is scheduled to be inaugurated on April 2 by Prime Minister Narendera Modi in Chenani will reduce the distance between Jammu and Srinagar by 31 km, but the constant landslides ahead on the highway will continue to play spoilsport for truckers and motorists.

The 9.2 km long tunnel will save a couple of minutes drive on the 300 km long highway, but the troublesome landslides beyond Nashri, where the tunnel opens on the other side, will keep blocking the highway every now and then. The tunnel has been built at a cost of Rs.3720 crores in a period of about six years.

Perpetual landslides were keeping vehicles stranded on the highway at times for days together. The highway remained blocked earlier this month continuously for eight days due to landslides at several places and the stranded passengers were airlifted. The tunnel has bypassed the tourist spots of Patnitop, Kud and Batote that used to be problematic due to snowfall in winters. The new tunnel will solve the problem on the nearly 30 kms stretch of road but besides the perennial ones several new landslides have developed across the tunnel.  

Repeated closure of the highway has become headache not only for passengers and truckers but also for men of the Border Roads organization (BRO) and the traffic police who are faced with the task of removing the massive landslides and controlling movement of stranded vehicles.

Few years ago the landslides used to generally occur during the monsoons but now it has become a round the year phenomenon as the fragile mountains keep virtually moving forward. The spots on the highway that have been identified problematic are Nashri, Kureel, Mehar, Chanderkot, Digdol and 8 other places. An officer of traffic police said that new landslides have developed at Seri, Sherbibi, Monkeymore and adjoining areas.

In a bid to check soil erosion that was the main cause of landslides, the government got aerial seeding done in these areas in early 1980s but that too remained futile as not a blade of grass came out of the seeds that were scattered from a helicopter.

It is a constant fight of men of the BRO to clear the highway of the huge boulders and debris that roll down from the mountainous areas. The problem gets compounded in winters when several areas get covered under thick layer of snow.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had recently persuaded the railway minister to allow movement of vehicular traffic through the rail tunnel at Banihal when the highway on both sides of the Jawahar Tunnel is blocked with snow.

The Batote—Kishtwar highway is also shut for the past four days due to landslides at Drabshala.