Chardham Pariyojana | 27 May 2020
Why in News
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed construction of a 440 m long tunnel below the Chamba town on the Rishikesh-Dharasu road highway (National Highway - 94).
- The construction of the tunnel is a part of the Chardham Pariyojana.
Key Points
- It is a programme taken up by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for connectivity improvement for Chardham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri) in Uttrakhand.
- The cost of the project is around Rs. 12,000 Crore.
- It envisages improvement as well as development of 889 km length of national highways.
- Implementing Agencies: Uttarakhand State Public Works Department (PWD), BRO and the National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
- Project Mode: The work under the programme is being implemented on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.
- Under the EPC mode, the project cost is completely borne by the government.
- However, the contractor is directly responsible for ensuring quality of the work as well as rectification of defects and maintenance of the project stretch for a period of 4 years after completion of construction.
Border Roads Organisation
- It was conceived and raised in 1960 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for coordinating the speedy development of a network of roads in the North and the North Eastern border regions of the country.
- It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.
- It has diversified into a large spectrum of construction and development works comprising airfields, building projects, defence works and tunneling and has endeared itself to the people.