By: MOHAMMAD KAZAFI MANAN
Introduction:
The Karnah valley located 80Km’s NE to District headquarter Kupwara with more than eighty thousand population, borders the neighbouring country and is strategically important in defence point of view. The Sadhna pass (Nasta Chun) at an elevation of 3100 m amsl in the lap of Shambhari Mountains separates the Karnah Valley from District headquarter. A vehicular road from Kupwara to Karnah valley traverses through Sadhna Pass which is prone to avalanches, landslides, shooting stones and mud washes. The valley remains cut off from the District headquarter, Kupwara, and summer capital of J&K, Srinagar, in winters and rainy seasons resulting into shortage of essential commodities, shortage of medicines, lack of health care and affecting the educational sector as well. Every year commuters face immense hardships due to accumulation of more than 10 feet snow, which causes road blockade and risk of avalanches. Passenger vehicles get buried under avalanches and some hit by shooting stones resulting into hundreds of deaths and injuries to people while travelling through Sadhna Pass. In extreme emergency inhabitants of the valley are forced to carry serious patients on shoulders tramping on snow which often results into their death due to severe cold or for the lack of medical care and few get buried under snow avalanches while ascending and descending the Sadhna precipice. The people of the Karnah valley are deprived of the basic facilities and have been ignored in terms of development and infrastructure, which otherwise should have been the priority of administration owing to the huge population living in the valley and its strategic importance.
Topography of the Vehicular Road:
The 80Km vehicular road from district headquarter to Karnah valley mostly passes through Shamsbari Mountains, cutting deep gorges and ascending or descending the steep precipices. Some stretches in the road are extremely hazardous and risky; the 35km road from Drangyari (TP) to Khatora is most arduous with adverse grade having around 30 zigs which represents a high ratio of 1.16 hence entails time taking journey. Out of this 35km stretch 20km (approx) is highly vulnerable to avalanches and landslides. Most of the road accidents occur near khooni nallah which is 2km short of Sadhna pass. The khooni nallah itself explains its name – stream of blood -, and this deadliest patch is the most vulnerable to avalanches. Avalanches and landslides consistently cause disruption in the road communication. It has been observed that 2-4 snow avalanches occur per day in snow seasons and 3-5 landslides occur per day in winter and other rainy seasons. Landslides occur because the rocks are weathered due to their exposure to harsh climatic conditions resulting into fracturing of rock and accumulation of fluvio glacial materials. This Fluvio-glacial material is loose over burden material over the mountain slopes and is the main reasons for shooting stone, mud washes and debris fall under the impact of gravity and mountain slopes. Several short term mitigation measures could be suggested and implemented for controlling the behaviour of the landslides. However, considering the scale of the landslide, avalanche and the size of the loose blocks, the measures suggested could only serve for a short period of time. Hence, these could not be implemented with success.
Remedy to the problem: Construction of 6.5Km tunnel
The need of an hour is to construct a tunnel as earlier BRO had proposed a 6.5Km (approx) tunnel at the Sadhna Pass. By introducing a tunnel of 6.5km (approx) length, distance of 28.5km arduous road stretch shall get reduced and the net distance between Kupwara and Karnah has worked out to only 51.5km thus reducing the journey of three hours to one and half hour. There would be reduction in zigs from 30 to 4 which will naturally reduce probability of accidents due to steep curves and avalanche prone areas can also be omitted. Road maintenance Cost per annum for snow clearance, landslides clearance, tarmacadam, drainage network, retention walls etc., can be saved. Moreover, driving cost, passenger fare and goods transportation charges can be saved. It has been estimated that the long-term benefits of constructing a 6.5km (approx) tunnel to bypass the landslides area outweigh the short-term maintenance costs for the existing road in the landslides area. Here it is worth to mention that due to mounting public pressure and sufferings of the people, administration woke up way back in 2009 on this issue and advertised to bid for the proposed tunnel. Few companies bid for it and is not allotted to either of the companies till date, for reasons best known to the people at the helm of affairs (AIP for detailed feasibility study of Sadhana pass accorded on 16 Feb 2009. Q bid (third call) for Sadhana pass tunnel opened on 06 Jan 2012. M/S 3G Vayamtech quoted lowest bid for 11.46 Cr. Case forwarded to Sectt BRDB on 08 Feb 2012 for approval: Source; Net, Source: BRO official website).
Geological Setup:
Based on the geological conditions of the area; it has transpired that the rocks of regional setup range in age from Proterozoic to Recent. The Cambro-Silurian outcrops are overlain by Devonian quartzites followed by rocks of Panjal Volcanics. Structurally the area has undergone considerable folding and faulting, indicating that the rock units have been involved in the tectonic movements. As per the tunnelling history of Himalayas in J&K, various tunnels have been excavated and rock conditions found feasible and favourable for construction of a tunnel. The alignment of proposed sadhna tunnel would mostly pass through the Panjal traps, Quartzites, and limestones which are favourable rock units for construction of a tunnel owing to greater Q-values, RMR and other favourable engineering geology parameters.
Tailpiece:
The impediment in development can be removed by constructing a tunnel at Sadhna Pass which will serve as all weather connectivity of Karnah with nearest town and city. The other objectives that can be achieved by constructing a tunnel are; Endorsement of cross LoC trade, Tourism promotion, local employment generation besides bringing the Karnah valley into a developmental fold.