Partly-built tunnel on Chandigarh-Manali highway collapses

A part of an under-construction tunnel caved in on Chandigarh-Manali highway on Tuesday night. Around 50 persons were engaged in construction work at the bypass road tunnel on the Nerchowk-Pandoh road stretch near Mandi. However, no loss of life or injury was reported. According to Mandi Municipal Corporation Councillor Rajender Mohan, the incident occurred at around 10 pm. “In this part of the tunnel, construction work was almost complete and vehicles of the company were moving through it. However, the tunnel was not yet open for the public,” he said. Varun Chari, the project director of the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) Kiratpur-Manali four-lane project, could not be reached for his comment. Mandi Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary said the incident occurred due to blasting inside the tunnel. See also: Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation starts repairing roads UMC gears up to build cement-concrete roads in Thane, Mumbai