JAMMU&KASHMIR

ENGINEERING MARVEL

The Chenab Bridge is a railway steel and concrete arch bridge under construction between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district. The ₹1,250-crore bridge, 359 metres above the river bed, stands 35 metres taller than Eiffel Tower. To be ready in May 2019, it will be able to withstand quakes of a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale and high-intensity blasts. The bridge is a part of the Udhampur-Reasi-Anantnag-Srinagar-Baramulla railway project.

PEACEFUL SUMMER

Come 2018 and Kashmir will hope for peace, stability and a boom in tourism. People of the state look forward to the revival of business and tourism sectors that remained shut for almost half of 2017 and incurred huge losses. Students will need a stable year too, especially after the shutdown of schools during the unrest and the unprecedented student protest in April and May.

VAISHNO DEVI ROUTE

The National Green Tribunal had, in its order of November 13, directed the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to make the new 7 km Tarakote Marg between Banganga and Adhkuwari operational by November 24. The board moved the Supreme Court and got the deadline extended to February 28.

MEGA BUS TERMINAL

The mega Jammu bus terminal project at the site of the Old Bus Stand at a cost of Rs 213.11 crore will be ready by October. With a capacity for 80 buses and 1,312 cars, this five-storeyed multi-utility complex being raised on 54 kanals.

AYURVEDIC COLLEGE

The Government Ayurvedic College in Jammu is being revived after more than four decades with an intake of 50 students for the Bachelor Of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) from the new academic session.