‘Pollution, poor visibility’: Experts to inspect Chenani tunnel in J&K

NEW DELHI: IL&FS, the makers of India’s longest highway tunnel between Chenani and Nashri in Jammu and Kashmir, have sent a team of experts to check problems of high pollution and poor visibility being faced by commuters inside the tunnel, an official said on Monday.

“A team of experts has been sent to the tunnel site in order to check the problems of poor visibility caused by high pollutionlevel inside the tunnel,” Ashutosh Chandwar, vice president of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), said. “The complaints made by the commuters needed to be probed thoroughly,” he added.

The IL&FS formed the experts’ team after commuters using the newly inaugurated state-of-theart tunnel regularly complained of eye irritation and suffocation inside the tube due to high pollution level.

The 9.2-km-long tunnel has a transverse ventilation system, which commuters say is not working properly.

Programme manager of Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based environmental think tank and research organisation, Vivek Chattopadhyay had said that pollution levels inside such a long tunnel were bound to increase but can be controlled if the ventilation functions properly.

He added that such problems occur in hilly terrain and assimilation of pollutants often occur as these do not disperse easily.

“The problem of poor visibility due to pollution levels inside the tunnel is genuine and it is commonly seen. The problem can be solved only if the ventilation system works effectively,” Chattopadhyay said.

The National Highways Authority of India had earlier said vehicles below BS-III engines won’t be allowed in.