DEHRADUN/UTTARKASHI: After 40 workers were trapped in the Silkyara tunnel for over 150 hours, experts have now started raising safety concerns over the construction of the passage built under the Char Dham road project.
“Normally, in such long tunnel projects, escape routes should be provided to facilitate emergency rescue work,” PC Nawani, former director of the Geological Survey of India, told TOI on Friday.
“Furthermore, in the case of the 4.5km Silkyara Tunnel, additional support through available instruments should have been provided on the identified soft/loose part of the mountain,” Nawani said. He added: “Companies and authorities involved in tunneling in India tend to overlook safety concerns and measures suggested by geologists. The principles of the new Austrian tunneling method, which is both a construction method and a design philosophy, are also not followed in the true sense.”
Senior geologist SP Sati added that the entire region where the tunnel will be constructed is a fragile zone with fractured rocks. Another expert, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out that “without an escape route, workers face the challenge of a contaminated environment as the gases generated underground are not vented.”
Mrityinjay Kumar, a worker from Bihar who has been with the project since it began in 2018, expressed similar safety concerns.
Meanwhile, Bernard Group, a Europe-based company that provided detailed design services to construction company Navayuga for the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel project, said: “Since the start of tunnel excavation, the geological conditions proved to be more difficult than predicted in the tender documents.”
Notably, Prime Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced a “safety review of all ongoing tunnel projects in Uttarakhand”.
“Normally, in such long tunnel projects, escape routes should be provided to facilitate emergency rescue work,” PC Nawani, former director of the Geological Survey of India, told TOI on Friday.
“Furthermore, in the case of the 4.5km Silkyara Tunnel, additional support through available instruments should have been provided on the identified soft/loose part of the mountain,” Nawani said. He added: “Companies and authorities involved in tunneling in India tend to overlook safety concerns and measures suggested by geologists. The principles of the new Austrian tunneling method, which is both a construction method and a design philosophy, are also not followed in the true sense.”
Senior geologist SP Sati added that the entire region where the tunnel will be constructed is a fragile zone with fractured rocks. Another expert, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out that “without an escape route, workers face the challenge of a contaminated environment as the gases generated underground are not vented.”
Mrityinjay Kumar, a worker from Bihar who has been with the project since it began in 2018, expressed similar safety concerns.
Meanwhile, Bernard Group, a Europe-based company that provided detailed design services to construction company Navayuga for the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel project, said: “Since the start of tunnel excavation, the geological conditions proved to be more difficult than predicted in the tender documents.”
Notably, Prime Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced a “safety review of all ongoing tunnel projects in Uttarakhand”.
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