World’s highest railway bridge over Chenab river in J-K to be ready by next year

The  construction work of the bridge was accelerated in the last one year  under the direct supervision of the top echelons of the central  government, the official said According to the plans, Kashmir will be  connected with train by December 2022.

The  world’s highest railway bridge over river Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir  will be ready by next year, and will connect the Valley with the rest of  India by train for the first time by 2022, officials said on Sunday.

The  bridge, which has a central span of 467 metres, is being built at a  height of 359 metres from the bed level. The height of Qutab Minar in  Delhi is 72 metres and that of the Eiffel Tower in Paris is 324 metres.   “This is the tallest railway bridge in the world and the maximum  designed wind speed for the bridge is 266 kmph,” a senior government  official said.

The  construction work of the bridge was accelerated in the last one year  under the direct supervision of the top echelons of the central  government, the official said According to the plans, Kashmir will be  connected with train by December 2022.

The  Udhmapur-Katra (25 Km) section, Banihal-Quazigund (18 Km) section  and Quazigund-Baramulla (118Km) section have already been commissioned.

The  last remaining section, the 111 km Katra-Banihal section is currently  under execution.It is targeted for completion in December 2022. The 126  km out of 174 km of tunnels on this section has already been completed.

There  has been a greater push in the last one year for implementation of  various projects under the Rs 80,068 crore Prime Minister’s Development  Package (PMDP) announced on November 7, 2015, the official said.

The package is meant for strengthening socio-economic infrastructure and balanced regional development of Jammu and Kashmir.

The  programme touches practically every sector and provides for massive  investments in basic infrastructure, another official said.

After  the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, the Union  Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was left with 54 projects under the PMDP  with an outlay of Rs 58,627 crore.

A  total of nine projects with an outlay of Rs 21,441 crore were  transferred to the UT of Ladakh.   “The work in the PMDP since June 2018  and particularly in the last one year has been the rapid and  unprecedented,” the official said.  The expenditure on various projects,  which was 27 per cent of the sanctioned cost in June 2018, has shot up  to 54 per cent in July 2020.

The  number of completed projects and substantially completed projects has  correspondingly shot up from seven in June 2018 to 17 in July 2020.   Bottlenecks, which were holding up as many as nine projects about two  years ago, have been removed.

Some  of the major PMDP projects which have witnessed considerable progress  or have been completed in last one year include the Rambagh flyover in  Srinagar, which was opened for traffic after a delay of over five years  The IIT Jammu has started functioning from its own campus and over 2  lakh sq ft area was newly created for it.

The  Srinagar Leh power transmission line and 220 KV  Srinagar-Alusteng-Drass-Kargil–Leh power transmission system have also  been completed.

With  this, Ladakh now stands connected to the national grid. This has  ensured grid connectivity and reliable quality power supply to the  Ladakh region.

Ladakh  can be supplied power in winter and surplus power can be evacuated from  there in summer, reducing reliance on diesel, boosting economy and  protecting environment, the official said.

Construction  work of AIIMS in Jammu has started. Two years ago, the land for the  project had not been handed over and the project was stuck up for want  of land and other clearances Similarly, the AIIMS at Awantipora  (Kashmir) project was stuck for want of land and other clearances. Now,  the tender for the AIIMS campus at Awantipora has been floated and is  likely to be awarded soon.

The  semi ring road in Jammu will be completed by next year and all land  acquisition and related hurdles have been removed.In this project, 30  per cent of the work has already been completed.

The 8.45 km new Banihal tunnel will be opened by next year as 86 per cent of the work completed.

Work  on major roads like Jammu–Akhnoor Road, Chenani-Sudhmahadev Road has  been accelerated A sum of Rs. 881 crore has been earmarked for  rebuilding of health institutions  As many as 144 projects have taken up  and work on 60 projects completed while work is underway on 80 projects  at a fast pace.  Despite having 20,000 MW hydropower potential, Jammu  and Kashmir had been able to tap only 3,500 MW in 70 years.

In  last two years alone, about 3,000 MW capacity projects were revived and  put on track. Work on 1,000 MW Pakal Dul and 624 MW Kiru started and  two more projects -- 800 MW Ratle and 540 MW Kwar have been put on fast  track.

Officials said a number of projects have been taken up to prevent floods.

The  Rs 2,000 crore Jhelum flood recovery project was a key one aimed at  increasing the carrying capacity of the river Jhelum and the flood spill  channel.

Phase-1  of the programme at a cost of Rs 399 crore is already nearing  completion.This has resulted in the discharge carrying capacity of  Jhelum being increased by 10,000 cusecs.

Phase-II  of the programme will begin shortly and when completed, it will  increase carrying capacity by an additional 15,000 cusecs. Jammu and  Kashmir, particularly the Kashmir division witnessed the worst-ever  floods in 2014.