New Delhi: The Border Road Organisation (BRO) has conducted the final ‘break through blast’ to mark the successful completion of excavation work of the Nechiphu tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh. Director General of BRO Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry conducted it remotely from here on May 20. The foundation stone of the project was laid by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on October 12, 2020.

Nechiphu Tunnel, at an altitude of 5,700 feet, is a unique 500-metre-long D-shaped, single tube double-lane tunnel on Balipara-Chariduar-Tawang (BCT) road in West Kameng district. The tunnel will accommodate two-way traffic and will be equipped with modern lighting and safety facilities.

The tunnel has been conceived to bypass extreme foggy conditions prevailing around Nechiphu Pass which have caused hindrance to general traffic and military convoys since many decades. The tunnel will be provided with a state-of-the-art electro-mechanical system including fire fighting devices, auto illumination system and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) controlled monitoring systems.

In tandem with the Nechiphu Tunnel project, the Project Vartak of BRO has also completed the excavation work on another strategic tunnel, the Twin Tube (1,555 meter and 980 meter) ‘Sela Tunnel Project’ on the same road, on January 22, 2022. Today’s blast, thus marking the cumulative excavation of more than 4,500 meters, achieved by BRO Karmyogis in less than two years.        

The BRO has been consistently achieving success in execution of infrastructural marvels in the most challenging areas of the nation over the last two years. It has taken up tunnelling in a big way with successful completion of high altitude and mountainous tunnels, in addition to the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang, in Himachal Pradesh the Chamba Tunnel in Uttarakhand, has also been dedicated to the nation, in the recent past. /BI/