What should be first: Silkyara inquiry report or construction?

What should be first: Silkyara inquiry report or construction?

Shishir Prashant

PrashantNews

The centre is in dilemma whether it should give green signal to the construction company for the resumption of the remaining work of the 4.531 km long under-construction tunnel at Silkyara in Uttarakhand even when a six-member expert committee report is anxiously awaited.

In 2018, the cabinet committee on economic affairs under Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given approval to the 2-Lane Silkyara-Barkot Tunnel with escape passage. The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) was the implementing agency and the contract of construction of the Rs. 1383.78 crore tunnel project was awarded to Navyuga Engineering Company.

After the rescue of the 41 workers on Nov 28, NHIDCL appeared to be in hurry saying the remaining construction work would resume soon. The company said it would hold its own inquiry and safety audit to look into the Nov 12 Silkarya tunnel incident where nearly 60 meter long debris caved in trapping 41 workers.

But a demand for the independent probe and strict action against Navyuga Engineering Company is also growing now. “Something wrong must have been done by the construction company at Silkyarara which led to the landslides inside the Silkyara tunnel,” said Jot Singh Bisht, state organization coordinator of AAP.

“Before anything else, there should be an independent probe into the whole Silkyara crisis,” said Suryakant Dhasmana Vice President of the state Congress. “We are waiting for the expert committee’s report,” said Dhasmana.

When contacted, an expert committee member indicated that it would take long time to prepare a report on the Silkyara tunnel. “We still have to gather data from Silkyara,” the committee member said. The member also did not give any timeframe for the report.

A section of prominent people, including politicians in Uttarakhand have asked the centre to force the company to pay all expenses which have been spent on the rescue operation. A case should be registered against Navyuga company and it should bear all the expenses of the rescue operation, said Indresh Maikhuri, a leftist leader. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has demanded strict action against the company for failing to build escape tunnel.

The company has come under scanner soon after PrashantNews reported in its news on Nov 21 that it did not build any escape tunnel as prescribed by the centre. But it was not yet clear as to why such escape tunnel was not built.