To borrow a cliché, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stating only ‘one side of the story’ when he told a rally of BJP workers in Udhampur, ironically, earlier this week, that the Chenani-Nashri tunnel would change the fortunes of farmers from the Kashmir Valley, which gets cut off from mainland India frequently during winters.
But the 9.27-km tunnel is just a small portion in the treacherous 302-km National Highway 1A in Jammu and Kashmir – it will reduce this distance by 30 km and, according to officials, save fuel worth Rs 99 crore annually, plus two hours of precious time in otherwise 8-10 hour journey.
Nevertheless, in the Prime Minister's ‘tourism or terrorism’ binary, more than a message of reconciliation and hope, many regret how even development – the right of the citizens of the insurgency-hit valley – gets linked to larger politics surrounding the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The 41-km stretch of road from Chenani to Nashri becomes dangerous for traffic during rains and snow. But the real challenge for commuters lies much ahead. With about 32 avalanche-prone areas along its length, the Valley towards Jammu takes vehicles on an upward journey from Qazigund in south Kashmir and across the Jawahar tunnel – named after India's first PM.
According to official data, nearly three passengers are killed every day in the state due to road fatalities, many of them perishing during winters when the dangerous highway rears its ugly head; its cavernous gorges making no discrimination between passenger cars and trucks loaded with essentials. Last year, 910 people died in road fatalities across the state.
Due to the harsh winter this year, the highway was closed multiple times; at one point of time, the valley, with disruptions in air traffic, remained cut off from the rest of the world for six days at a stretch, pushing the prices of essentials to astronomical levels while also causing a fuel shortage.
While the BJP-led centre may have walked away with the credit for starting commercial operations in South East Asia's longest road tunnel, the work on the Chenani-Nashri tunnel started under the previous Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. Due to a foreign firm backing out, the deadline for its completion got pushed on multiple occasions.
When the Australian company, Leighton Construction, backed out of the project with only half of the boring completed, it illuminated the fortunes of a local construction firm. What 20 firms involved in half the work managed to do in six years, Beigh Construction Company (BCC) achieved in just two years.
Until the authorities make up their minds, it is not going to be an easy ride for commuters on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Despite the media blitzkrieg, the Chenani-Nashri tunnel is not a magic wand that has abruptly ended the weather vagaries faced by passengers and traders in Kashmir. The oft-told story in winters, that ‘Kashmir remains cut off from rest of world’ is going to be told for many years to come.
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