The BRO managed to link up the north and south portals of the tunnel, which is a major step forward under the Char Dham project.
In a boost to the Rs 12,000 crore Uttarakhand’s Char Dham’ project to connect Gangotri, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and Badrinath, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has achieved a milestone in the construction of a 450-metre tunnel below the densely populated Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road (NH-94). The latest Austrian technology has been used in the construction of the Chamba tunnel.
The tunnel is expected to be completed and available for traffic by October 2020 almost three months ahead of its scheduled date of completion of January 2021.
The construction of the tunnel was a challenging assignment not only in terms of land acquisition, continuous water seepage and chances of sinking, but also challenges of COVID-19 and restrictions due to the nationwide lockdown.
BRO started work on ‘North Portal’ of the tunnel in January 2019 but work on ‘South Portal’ could commence only after October 2019 when issues concerning land compensation and safety of houses above the tunnel were resolved.
Under the ‘Char Dham’ project, BRO is constructing 250 km of National Highway leading to holy shrines of Gangotri and Badrinath.