Key tunnel for Tawang likely to be completed before deadline
The Sela tunnel, a ₹700-crore project announced by the government in 2018, will be the longest twin-lane tunnel above 13,000 feet in the world, and will cut down travel time to Tawang.
A strategic tunnel under construction in Arunachal Pradesh will be ready ahead of deadline by June 2022, permitting swifter deployment of weapons and soldiers to forward areas near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tawang sector in all-weather conditions, officials familiar with the development said on Thursday.
The Sela tunnel, a ₹700-crore project announced by the government in 2018, will be the longest twin-lane tunnel above 13,000 feet in the world, and will cut down travel time to Tawang by at least one hour as well as provide all-weather connectivity, said Sela tunnel project director Colonel Parikshit Mehra.
Winter connectivity to Tawang over the 14,000-foot pass, Sela, posed a logistics challenge for the army for decades, with the movement of men, weapons and stores severely affected for at least three months, said a second official cited above. The Sela project, being executed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), involves the construction of three tunnels --- a main tunnel, an escape tube, and a shorter third tunnel --- and a road connecting the main and the third tunnels. The tunnels are coming up through two ridges west of the Sela pass.
The main and escape tunnels are 1,555 metres long each, the shorter tunnel 980 metres and the road stretches 1,200 metres (only tunnels longer than 1,500 metres have to have an escape passage alongside).
The Sela tunnel is a part of the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang road, one of the key strategic projects near the Chinese border. The main tunnel was fully excavated last week, with defence minister Rajnath Singh presiding over the breakthrough blast via video conferencing.
The escape tube of the Sela tunnel was excavated last year. The BRO has set Army Day 2022 (January 15) as the target for the complete excavation of the third tunnel.
Singh said on October 14 that the Sela Tunnel, located in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, will play a crucial role in bolstering national security and ensuring the region’s socio-economic development.
“All-weather connectivity in this critical sector is critical. The Sela tunnel project will result in speedy mobilisation of troops and equipment as also enhance the army’s logistics support capability. This is important as China has built roads right up to its anticipated ingress points,” said former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General BS Jaswal (retd).
As many as 50 engineers and 500 workers are directly involved in the construction of the Sela tunnel using latest Austrian tunneling techniques. The Austrian method involves observing and studying the rock, and designing tunnel support according to rock behaviour, Mehra said. He was handpicked for the Sela project last year factoring his experience in the construction of the Atal tunnel in Rohtang, a project he was associated with for five years --- from beginning to end.
He was moved to Nuranang to accelerate the Sela tunnel by applying the lessons learnt in Rohtang. “The lessons of poor geology learnt in Rohtang have helped us here. If bad rock is coming our way, we are taking measures in advance. We are using extra tunnel support so that deformations and collapses can be avoided,” said Mehra, who holds an M. Tech degree from IIT Delhi and another master’s degree from Austria.
Around 4,000 army and civilian vehicles are expected to use the tunnel daily. Its dimensions will support the movement of all types of army vehicles and military hardware, including the Bofors guns that have to be towed to forward areas by Scania trucks.
On Tuesday, eastern Army commander Lieutenant General Manoj Pande said both India and China were attempting to scale up infrastructure near the LAC in the eastern sector. The Indian Army is regularly picking up increased military vehicular movement across LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector due to improved Chinese infrastructure. There is a tremendous thrust on building infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh whether it is through the development of border roads or the efforts of the civilian government, Major General Zubin A Minwalla, the commander of the Rupa-based HQs 5 Mountain Division, said earlier this week. The division’s responsibilities encompass the sensitive Tawang sector.