Ours is an age of speed and safety. The modern means of connectivity, and a search for easy and safe routes have changed the way we travel and reach our destinations.
In J&K we have a fairly good network of roads. But the geographical regions that constitute J&K are connected through single routes and those roads are mostly vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. That is the reason the travel between various regions of J&K remains a problem, particularly in harsh weather conditions.
The rate of accidents is also very high on some of these roads. The news about fatal accidents on these roads is always an expected thing. Further, some of the regions remain closed for months together in winters and people in some areas remain cut off form the rest of the world. One can only imagine the level of difficulties they must be facing. In this situation the most workable solution is to build tunnels so as to by pass the most problematic zones on such treacherous roads.
These tunnels not only make travel less time consuming, but make it dependable and safe. In this regard we have this good news that the Qazigind-Banihal road tunnel is open for trial run. It won’t be now too far that people will regularly start plying through this tunnel.
Those travelling on this road know how this patch would give tough time to them. It would often witness long queues. The traffic jams would happen for hours together. By having this tunnel up and running the travel time will be reduced, the hassles of traffic jamming and stranding for hours together would be over, and a very risky patch on this road would be now avoided.
So by all means it is a good news. We need more such tunnels on this road, and on the roads that connect different geographical zones of J&K. That would be a great relief to the people, besides a means to take development to new heights. In the modern economies connectivity is the engine of progress.