Katni: Sleemanabad Tunnel

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Briefly

As of 2026 July

P.Naveen, July 17, 2026: The Times of India

Bhopal : Legend has it that Narmada and Sonbhadra, born in the same Maikal hills, are estranged lovers destined to flow in opposite directions, never to meet. 
 An engineering feat that took 18 years to achieve will soon change that as the Narmada waters will finally enter the Son basin through India’s longest underground water conveyance tunnel — the 11.9-km-long Sleemanabad Tunnel in MP’s Katni district. 


The breakthrough came on July 14, when the last rock that stood as a barrier cracked. The water will be released only after the tunnel boring machine is dismantled and pulled out, officials said. 


The tunnel is designed to carry Narmada waters from the Bargi reservoir beneath the Vindhya hills to the drought-prone Vindhya region and Son basin through gravity flow, without using pumps. It is the backbone of the Bargi diversion project that will eventually provide irrigation to 2.5 lakh hectares of farmland across nearly 1,450 villages in Jabalpur, Katni, Satna, Maihar, Rewa and Panna districts. 


The construction began in 2008, but progress was slowed by some of the toughest geological conditions encountered in an irrigation tunnel. Engineers had to cut through hard marble, limestone and dolomite formations while tackling underground cavities, heavy groundwater inflows, unstable rock and carbon dioxide emissions. These conditions repeatedly damaged the cutter heads of the machines. 


A Robbins boring machine deployed in 2011 managed to excavate only 1.4km in four years. A second German-made one was launched from the opposite end in 2016. The work escalated the project cost from Rs 799 crore to Rs 1,600 crore. 


The tunnel passes 20-40m below the surface. Irrigation will be introduced over the next three rabi seasons.