New Delhi: The Border Roads Organization today (11 January) organized a webinar on the Atal Tunnel to disseminate the experiences gained from the Atal Tunnel for the benefit of IITs, NITs, and other technical institutions. Inaugurating this all-day webinar, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh praised the engineers of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) for constructing this engineering marvel despite several technical challenges during the Covid-19 ban. He cited the example of the Fault Zone of Seri Nalla, which also posed a serious challenge to big engineers from abroad, but our engineers succeeded in dealing with the challenge of Seri Nalla.
He said that for building a great structure like Atal Tunnel, not only brick and mortar but also a sense of national pride is most important. Recalling the many achievements of the past of Indian scientists and engineers, the Defense Minister said that he has always shown his skill in various fields.
Referring to the self-reliant India campaign to deal with the challenges arising out of Covid-19, Rajnath Singh said that we are looking for PPE kits, masks, sanitizers, etc. not only to meet our domestic requirements but also in other countries They have also been successful in rapidly mobilizing their resources to supply it. He said that the government has given the highest priority to the development of border areas and BRO has deployed about 67 percent of its workforce on the northern border. Praising the efforts and achievements of BRO during the year 2020, the Defense Minister said that no cuts were made in BRO’s budget despite the Covid-19 restrictions.
The Defense Minister also released a compendium document listing the experiences and challenges faced during the construction of the world’s longest tunnel (9.020 km) at a height of more than 3000 meters.
Inaugurating the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang on 3 October 2020, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi suggested that such a compendium should be submitted for the benefit of students and professionals from engineering institutions.
This webinar will help in increasing the knowledge of all faculty members and interested students, especially final year students, to deal with future challenges in tunnel construction. More than 1,000 people attended this webinar.