Reported & Written By Kumud Sharma, Diary Times, Bilaspur, March 09: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane from New Delhi to Pung on March 11. Rs 4,759 crore has been spent on building the Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane. The company took about four years to build the 69 km long Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane. Although, the National Highways Authority of India had started the work of constructing Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane in the year 2012, but in between the construction company was declared bankrupt and the work stopped.
At the same time, in 2019, the work of constructing Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane was allotted to a new company. Earlier the length of Kiratpur-Nerchowk National Highway was 106 kilometers, after the construction of Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane, the length reduced by 37 kilometers to 69 kilometers. In Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane, the length of green field is 47.753 kilometers, that of brown field is 21.45 kilometers. On August 14, 2019, the Brown Field tender was awarded for Rs 249 crore.
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On November 27, 2019, the construction work of Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane started and on April 30, 2023, the work of Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane was completed. The green field tender was awarded on October 16, 2020 and work started on August 12, 2021 and was completed on June 7, 2023. On August 6, 2023, NHAI started the Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane for traffic on a trial basis, but during the rainy season, the Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane was damaged by landslides. Within three months, NHAI repaired the Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane. Garamora and Baloh toll plazas have also been started on Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane. NHAI has set the speed at 60 km per hour on Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane. In case of excessive speed, challan is automatically issued by cameras installed on Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane. Now the Himachal Pradesh government itself will set the pace.
Five tunnels and 37 bridges have been built in Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane –
Five tunnels have been built in the Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane project. In Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane, the largest tunnel is Garamora 1,800 meter, Tihra Tunnel 1,265 meter, Bhawana Tunnel 740 meter, Tunhu Tunnel 550 meter and the smallest tunnel Bagchhaal is 465 meter. All tunnel double lanes are ready. The tender process is going on for the construction of four parallel tunnels. The work of parallel tunnel of Garamora Tunnel is going on. The parallel tunnel work of Garamora Tunnel will also be completed soon. A total of 37 bridges have been built in the Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlane project. Of these, there are 22 big and 15 small bridges.
Only six kilometers of bypass work remains from Pung to Nerchowk–
The work of this four lane from Kiratpur to Nerchowk is almost complete, but the construction work of about six kilometers of bypass from Pung to Naulakha in Sundernagar is left. The work from Naulakha to Ner Chowk is also complete.
Invitation given to all of them for inauguration, will be present in Shimla –
NHAI informed Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha MP Manish Tiwari, Mandi MP Pratibha Singh, Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani, Kiratpur MLA Harjot Bains, Sri Nayana Devi Ji MLA Randhir Sharma, Sadar MLA Trilok Jamwal, Jhanduta MLA Jeet Ram Katwal, Sundernagar MLA Rakesh Jamwal has invited for the inauguration. All these invited guests will be present in Shimla.
Two laborers fought for their lives in the Tehra tunnel for 10 days, one lost his life –
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane on Monday. There were many ups and downs from 2012 until the four lane was ready. People will not be able to forget the accident that happened in this Kiratpur-Nerchowk four-lane Tehra Tunnel for centuries. Two laborers fought for their lives inside the Tehra tunnel for 10 days. A laborer had died there. During construction work, a portion of the Tehra Tunnel caved in on 12 December 2015 around 8 pm. In this, three laborers got trapped inside the Tehra tunnel. After this the rescue operation was started. First, soil was taken out from inside the tunnel, but as much soil was taken out, it would come back again.
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On September 13, a small drilling machine was installed by making a path over the Tehra tunnel. Besides, heavy boring machine was also ordered from Jaipur. On the fifth day of the campaign, two laborers came in contact with a 4 inch diameter pipe inserted using a small drill machine. Cameras and essential items were delivered to the workers through this pipe. Meanwhile, heavy boring machine also reached from Jaipur, but had to face a lot of difficulties till it reached the hill. On September 17, drilling of a hole of 1.2 meter radius was started with a heavy boring machine. The heavy boring machine drilled more than 36 meters within two days. When about six meters of drilling was left, the heavy boring machine broke down and the work had to be stopped.
On top of that, the work was also hampered due to rain. Parts of heavy boring machine were ordered. After two days, drilling work started again. The work was completed on the morning of 22 September. NDRF personnel descended into the tunnel through a 42 meter long hole and took out Maniram of Mandi and Suresh Tomar of Sirmour. The third laborer was buried under the debris at the time of the accident. His body was found after 10 months. Let us tell you that Hriday Ram of Mandi, who lost his life in the accident, was hired by the contractor on the day of the accident. When this accident happened, it was Hriday Ram first shift. Hriday Ram body was found 10 months after the accident, when the debris was being removed.
In June 2020, the Environment Ministry had stopped the work of Kiratpur-Nerchowk four lane-
Due to change in alignment without approval and many other irregularities, on June 25, 2020, the Environment Ministry, Government of India, had issued orders to stop the work on the Kiratpur-Nerchowk four-lane project. After this, in 2021, NHAI got conditional approval to carry out the construction work. For this NHAI also had to pay a fine.
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