PM Narendra Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh on March 9 marked a significant occasion as he inaugurated the strategically crucial Sela Tunnel. Alongside this monumental project, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for approximately 20 other development initiatives in the Northeast region, underscoring the Government's commitment to enhancing infrastructure in the far eastern corner of India.
The visit's centrepiece was the Sela Tunnel, an ambitious road tunnel constructed at an elevation of 3,000 metres in Arunachal Pradesh. It will provide year-round connectivity to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, making it the world's longest bi-lane tunnel at 12.04 km. This tunnel is a crucial development ensuring all-weather access to the challenging terrain of Tawang, near the Tibet border, and represents a noteworthy achievement in the region's infrastructure.
The Sela Tunnel will strengthen strategic capabilities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Its location near Sela Pass, a crucial point in the region, will play a pivotal role in facilitating troop deployment and the movement of machinery, bolstering India's military presence in the area.
Constructed by the Border Roads Organisation under Project Vartak, the tunnel project holds immense strategic importance in combating external threats. It will significantly reduce travel time and ensure all-weather access along the NH13 road to Tawang, a region known for its picturesque landscapes and cultural heritage.
As a key milestone in India's infrastructure development, the Sela Tunnel will enhance military capabilities and boost tourism in Tawang, offering visitors a smoother and more reliable travel experience. The tunnel's construction using the latest tunnelling methods will ensure uninterrupted travel, contributing to the growth of tourism in the region and positioning Tawang as a popular destination in the North East.
Engage with us in a conversation about the completion of the Sela Tunnel and its profound impact on the local community, tourism, and bolstering internal security.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
Are tunnels environmentally friendly?
Road traffic and (consequently) vehicle emissions constitute a serious environmental concern particularly in confined spaces such as tunnels. These emissions are characterized by the presence of various pollutants, which, at high concentrations, can cause adverse effects and consequences.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
What is the most common cause of tunnel failure?
The most common cause of tunnel failure is water ingress, leading to instability and potential collapse.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
How do we detect tunnels?
Over the past several decades, many geophysical methods have been proposed to detect underground tunnels and void spaces such as electromagnetic, gravity, ground penetrating radar and seismic refraction, diffraction and surface-wave methods.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
What are the positive impacts of tunnels?
Using tunnels for transportation allows, among other benefits, efficient use of underground land, redirecting traffic congestion from town centers, decreasing landscape damage due to major roads passing through open spaces and reducing air pollution in residential areas.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
Why are tunnels useful?
Tunnels serve as a critical piece of infrastructure in many cities. In addition to facilitating mass transit, they also play a vital role in waste and material transportation.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
How safe are tunnels?
Tunnels are highly unlikely to fall. Civil engineers work hard to build safe, strong tunnels. They know that tunnels have to stand up to forces of tension, torsion, compression and shearing. Tunnels also need to carry the weight of people and vehicles traveling through them.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
How do they get air in tunnels?
The duct of this system is the tunnel tube, which has an air jet mounted on the tunnel entrance. These air jets also called “jet fans”, are mounted at other points of the tunnel to accelerate the airflow. The efficiency of these fans depends on where they're installed.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
Do tunnels go underwater?
An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry links.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
What are the challenges of tunnel construction?
Modern challenges in tunnel construction:-
1) Dusty conditions. With trucks taking rock and spoil away from the tunnel at all hours of
the day, waterproofing membrane can become a difficult task because of the airborne
particles such as silica dust and diesel particulates.
2) Delivery of membrane.
3) Membrane damage.
BrahmDevYadav 1 year 5 months ago
Under which situations tunnels are preferred?
Tunnels prove to be cheaper than bridges or open cuts to carry public utility services like water, sewer and gas. Feasibility of these constructions in natural materials such as rock and soil, causes the geological conditions to play a major role in their stability.