Uttarakhand effect? Third party to audit 12 Himachal tunnels: NHAI

The inspection and safety audit of 12 under-construction tunnels in Himachal Pradesh will be carried out by a third party and vertical drilling machines will be stationed near tunnels to be used in case an "Uttarakhand-like situation" arises, according to a National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official.

NHAI regional officer Abdul Basit on Friday said the safety audit will analyse all factors from rock stability to material used in the construction, and remedial steps would be taken as per suggestions in view of the Uttarakhand Silkyara tunnel incident, in which 41 workers have been trapped in a partially collapsed tunnel for the past 13 days. Incidentally, this same tunnel suffered another partial collapse in 2019.

No matter what the NHAI says, therefore, the reality is that tunnel collapses are not new in the Himalayan belt, particularly with the rapid and seemingly endless increase in the execution of Central projects in recent years.

Speaking to NH after the Silkyara tunnel collapse, Dr CP Rajendran, a scientist who specialises in earthquake geology and tectonics, said, “No SOPs (standard operating procedures) were being followed here, with serious consequences.

"Previously, such excavations in the mountains were carried out under the supervision of competent geologists, followed by continuous tunnel logging, among other precautionary measures. Why were no safety norms or reviews ordered by the authorities even after the tunnel collapse in 2019?”

In Himachal Pradesh alone, a total of 68 tunnels measuring 85 km, which will reduce the road distance by about 130 km, are set to come up, Basit told PTI on Friday. Of these, 12 have been constructed, 12 are under construction, and work on 14 will begin in six months, while detailed project reports are being prepared for 30, he said.

"We have suggested that vertical pipes be placed at tunnel construction locations to supply oxygen and food in case a similar tragedy strikes," he said.

NHAI officials visited some under-construction tunnels in Himachal and interacted with workers, also directing contractors to prepare a list of machinery available in nearby areas so that in case of an emergency, these could be made available at the site without losing time. Warning that no laxity in safety will be tolerated, project directors were also asked to conduct mock drills and check the preparedness of evacuation plans.

In 2015, two of three labourers were trapped inside an under-construction tunnel of the Kiratpur-Nerchowk four-lane project in Himachal's Bilaspur after a portion of the tunnel collapsed on 12 September. They were rescued after nine days, via a tunnel about 1.2-metre in diameter, which was dug vertically to reach them.

In Uttarakhand itself, the toll taken by the road and rail construction activity under PM Narendra Modi's ambitious Char Dham Yojana and the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd has been significant.

In October, nearly 40 workers had a narrow escape after a fire broke out inside a tunnel being constructed for the Rishikesh–Karnaprayag railway project in Rudraprayag district.

On 13 August, 114 workers and engineers trapped in shoulder-deep water about 300 metres inside the under-construction Edit-2 tunnel were rescued in the nick of time. This, too, is part of the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag project. The water was first pumped out using heavy equipment, after which a police contingent was employed to bring them out.

In July, a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall led to enormous pile-ups on both ends of the Daat Kali tunnel connecting Saharanpur to Dehradun, with commuters held up inside.

The Chamba-Tehri tunnel, which is part of the Rishikesh–Gangotri road link, has developed huge cracks. People living in the region are terrified because the tunnelling has resulted in major land subsidence in the entire area, with their houses developing cracks as well.

Again, tunnel collapses are not unique to Uttarakhand either. On 19 May, the tunnel under construction at Khooni Nallah in Ramban district on the Jammu-Srinagar highway collapsed, resulting in the death of four workers and injuries to many more.

Rajendran warned that the intensity of disasters in the Himalayas will only go from bad to worse: “It has become clear that the exponential increase in the occurrence of landslide-related disasters in the Uttarakhand Himalayas cannot be categorised any longer as ‘natural disaster’, as much of it is man-made or human accelerated disaster, triggered by unscientific cliff cutting to widen the roads under the Char Dham project."

With inputs from PTI