Doda, Feb 17: Minister for R&B G M Saroori and a Central team comprising chief engineer, ministry of road transport, surface and highways, director geological survey of India, Raghbir Singh, Colonel Gursimrat Singh from BEACON, conducted an aerial survey of the site for proposed Sudh Mahadev- Marmat tunnel, to be constructed in Doda district.
 MLA, Doda Abdul Majid Wani and Commissioner Secretary, R&B, Mehboob Iqbal, Chief Engineer R&B, B L  Sharma also accompanied the team.
 Giving details of the project, Saroori said the tunnel will provide alternate road connectivity to twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar.
 He said the tunnel and Chatroo-Singpora - Vailoo tunnel in Kishtwar, Dessa–Kapran in Doda and Chattargalla tunnel on Bhaderwah- Bani- Basohli road, Dessa- Kapran tunnel will reduce the distances considerably, On completion, he said, these tunnels besides providing inter regional connectivity between Kashmir and Jammu will also help to explore and promote tourism potential of both the districts of Doda and Kishtwar. 
 Later, the Minister held a meeting with the Central team at Doda and reviewed the project besides taking stock of other developmental projects coming up in the area. The roads coming up under CRF also came up for the discussion in the meeting.
 Saroori said that by constructing these alternate routes tourists of Vaishno Devi could be diverted here as there are immense tourist potential in districts of Doda and Kishtwar.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 IST