By RP NAILWAL
The trapped labourers’ crisis in the high altitude sub-Himalayan district has once again kicked up a row whether the current post disaster management apparatus in the country is equipped well enough to tackle a crisis of this nature and scale. The worrying fact is that it took seventeen days of continued efforts to save forty-one labourers from across seven states.
It took a lot of efforts by top experts led by the known Australian scientist, Arnold Dix, who heads the Geneva-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, under the overall supervision of Union Ministers including Nitin Gadkari and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to eventually achieve the desired success.
The crisis in the mountainous terrain began when the labourers working in the Silkyara Bend tunnel in Uttarkashi district of the state suddenly got trapped inside following a heavy debris slide on 12 November. This tunnel is being built under Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode and forms part of the ambitious Char Dham project funded by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The news of this accident spread like wild fire prompting the disaster management department of the state to swing into action. The initial three to four days’ rescue operations proved futile but the intensified efforts in the following one week also did not yield any result, either. This caused great concern not only among officials and experts but also among the general public.
Eventually, the Prime Minister took command of the rescue efforts as the entire country waited with bated breath for the eventual rescue of the labourers. The worry was whether the trapped labourers would be able to survive in a small place in the tunnel braving the trying conditions in the cold weather.
No doubt, this unprecedented crisis faced by poor workers has brought to the fore many issues pertaining to safety parameters in tunnel construction, in general, and in the hills, in particular. Hilly regions, where mountains are weak, pose a special problem for construction engineers. Some geological investigations in the past are said to have determined that the Garhwal Mountains, where the tunnel mishap occurred, are geologically fragile and cannot bear intensified construction activity. Arnold Dix also holds the same view.
But, despite this fact, scores of tunnels have been constructed in the region as part of the ongoing developmental activity. In fact, the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand falls in zone five of the seismic map of the country and, despite the high level of seismicity, several tunnels have come into existence. A large number of tunnels have been dug in the hills for various hydro-power projects. The mega 2400 MW Tehri Dam in the same geographical area is reported to have four large tunnels.
It may also be noted here that, besides hydro power projects tunnels, 61 tunnels and 59 bridges have also been built under the ongoing Chardham Rail Project and regular cliff cutting work in the fragile mountains are in progress. Thus, it is said that, in addition to railway tunnels, some 750 km long tunnels have already come into existence.
Meanwhile, environmentalists like Magsaysay award winner and Padma Bhushan recipient Chandi Prasad Bhatt and wildlife enthusiasts have been expressing a lot of concern over habitat destruction and fragmentation of soil for a variety of plants and animals due to excessive tunnelling activity in an environmentally sensitive eco zone. Massive dumping of soil during tunnelling is also seen causing a potential threat to aquatic life in the nearby rivers and water streams.
Experts and environmentalists also now stress upon the need for a technical survey of the entire Uttarakhand region by a team of experts under the supervision of the National Disaster Management Authority involving engineers and earthquake scientists at the earliest to evaluate the entire situation. It can be mentioned here that soon after the mega earthquake, which had hit the Uttarkashi district on 22 October in 1991, the then Prime Minister, Narsimha Rao, had promised that such a survey would be done in the entire region of Uttarakhand to understand the problems. However, even after over 3 decades, the state’s developmental needs have weighed heavily with the planners further accentuating the gravity of the situation. The two major rivers, Ganga and Yamuna, emanating from the Garhwal Himalayas, have tempted the planners for hydro- power production. Over the decades, hundreds of tunnels have been built cutting the fragile hill slopes by blasting method to set up hydro dams. The 2400 MW Tehri Dam launched by the Union Government decades ago has led to the displacement of thousands of people from their native area and submergence of an entire town, Tehri, in the Bhagirathi River water blocked for the construction of the mega dam.
Besides this, 61 tunnels and 59 bridges being built under the ongoing Chardham Rail Project, cliff cutting work in the in the fragile mountains, are also in progress. It is said that, in addition to railway tunnels, a total of 750 km long tunnels have also come into existence. According to some environmentalists and geologists, excessive excavation of the mountains poses a latent danger to the safety of the hill folk.
It may be mentioned here that subsidence of Joshimath town in Chamoli district some months ago was attributed to the construction of 12 km- long underground tunnel for the 300 MW VIshnuprayag hydro power project launched by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) there. According to some former scientists of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), here, including Dr NS Virdi and Dr AK Mahajan, some 150 kilometres of tunnels have been proposed for the hydro projects in the Ganga basin alone. Some of these have already been constructed and some are in the process of being drilled.
It is, therefore, very obvious that such indiscriminate blasting of the mountains will continue. What implications such an activity will have on the eco system of the sub-Himalayan region needs to be considered. Already much damage has been done to the local topography, forests and indigenous wildlife, according to an IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) report. Such a development cannot be taken lightly and there is an urgent need to ponder over the seriousness of the worsening situation.
Its high time that a technical survey of the entire Uttarakhand region is done by a team of experts involving engineers and earthquake scientists at the earliest to evaluate the entire situation.
(RP Nailwal is native of Uttarakhand. Formerly with the TOI, he now writes for papers as a freelauncer. He is an expert on various
subjects related to the hills).
