Old tunnel on Kashmir highway to be transformed as tourist destination

Srinagar: After the inauguration of the twin-tube tunnel between Banihal and Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway last year, authorities have decided to renovate and transform the old Jawahar tunnel on the highway as a new tourist destination.

The 2.85-km Jawahar tunnel, also called the Banihal tunnel is a road tunnel at an elevation of 2,194 m in Jammu and Kashmir below the Banihal Pass in the Pir Panjal mountain range in the lower Himalayas. Constructed between 1954 and 1956, it became operational on December 22, 1956, and was named after Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 8.45-km Qazigund-Banihal Navyug tunnel in April 2022, the old tunnel has become obsolete. The new tunnel has been built at a cost of over Rs 3,100 crore and features state-of-the-art twin tubes, an exhaust system and several other features to make it an ‘all-weather’ transportation route.

To upgrade and make it an attraction for tourists, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has floated a multi-crore tender as part of the pioneering project for the old tunnel.

“Our focus is on enhancing security, safety, surveillance, and upgrading mobility infrastructure within the tunnel,” a BRO official said and added that the aim is to augment the old tunnel’s visual appeal and present it as an attractive tourist spot.

The renovation is also important as the new tunnel restricts the passage of fuel-laden tankers, trucks carrying LPG cylinders, and other explosive materials. These vehicles, along with local traffic from nearby villages, still rely on the old tunnel.

The last time the tunnel was renovated was in 1997. The tunnel was constructed by a German company and was the only road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the nation in April 2022 when Banihal-Qazigund's four-lane tunnel was thrown open for traffic.

In 2021, the BRO decided to refurbish the strategically important tunnel and awarded a tender for Rs 80 crore but the contractor failed to do the work. The tunnel had been designed for 150 vehicles per day in each direction but the number of vehicles increased in fifty years to 7,000 in both directions.