BRO plans twin tunnels in Arunachal

In order to build all weather roads in areas bordering China, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will construct two tunnels through 4170-metre-high Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh. The proposed tunnels would cut down the distance to China border through Tawang by 10 km, thereby, saving at least an hour of travel time between the Army's 4 Corps headquarters at Tezpur and Tawang, official sources said that the tunnels would ensure that NH 13 and especially the 171 km stretch between Bomdila and Tawang, which remains accessible, will enable Indian Army reach there at the quickest possible in hours of crisis. This is also keeping in mind India's bid for faster access to the Tibet frontier through the tough terrain of the state in the Eastern Himalayas, the commander of the 42 Border Road Task Force, BRO, RS Rao said that the project constitutes widening of existing single lane road to NH double lane specifications from Baisaki and then taking off a green field alignment of length 12.37 km. It also includes construction of two tunnels of length 475 metres and 1,790 meters each through Sela-Chabrela ridge meeting the existing Balipara-Chaudur-Tawang road on Nurarang side, he added.