Under-construction tunnel in Ramban collapses; labourer’s body recovered, 9 still trapped

Negligence of NHAI attributed as contributory factor to mishap

STATE TIMES NEWS

BANIHAL/JAMMU: A labourer was killed and three were rescued after a part of an under-construction tunnel collapsed on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Khunni Nala in District Ramban, officials said.
Nine workers continue to be trapped in the debris as rescue operations continue. However, their chances of survival are slim, they said.
The sources told STATE TIMES that the incident occurred due to negligence of NHAI as well as the main contractor CEIGALL Constructions, which has further sublet the work to Sarla Constructions, which is not yet approved as sub-contractor of NHAI.
The incident occurred when a part of the tunnel in which labourers were working collapsed, whose drawings were not approved by ICI, which is the approval authority for engineering consultancy for this project.
Further, sources said, the company did not follow any guidelines laid out by MORTH (Ministry of Road Transport & Highway), mandated for tunnel construction and its notice was not even taken by the NHAI.
Despite the failure, the company did not follow any rules as they were given a free-hand by the authorities. The blast was taken at the face of the tunnel and no mandatory manual excavation was done, sources said, adding that inadequate protection measures likes rock bolting, grouting, shotereting and wire meshing are also reported to be the cause of the mishap.
Sources said that no Geologist was present at site which is a must for rock clarification, adding that patch construction that is in joint venture with CEIGALL Constructions was also not present at site. No safety measures were taken and there was absence of proper lighting system, mandatory for night work.
“Around 10.15 pm on Thursday, the audit tunnel of T3 on the highway near Khooni Nallah in Ramban collapsed, trapping 11-12 labourers of Sarla Company working there,” a senior official told.
The rescue operation on the national highway stretch between Ramban and Ramsu started at midnight and was going on in full swing with rock-breakers being used to reach out to those trapped, he said.

LG constantly monitoring situation, rescue ops
SRINAGAR: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha is constantly monitoring the situation in Ramban where nine people are still feared to be trapped.
The Lt Governor also chaired a high-level meeting with senior officials at the Civil Secretariat and discussed the progress of rescue operations.
The rescue operation was started last night with District, Police and Army personnel on the ground. The Lt Governor, who is monitoring the situation from a control room, was briefed about intermittent shooting stones, which have been obstructing the rescue operation. Expressing concern over the incident, the Lt Governor said rescue operations will continue on war footing till the last person is reached.
The Lt Governor had directed Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar; ADGP, Jammu, Mukesh Singh, Deputy Commissioner Ramban, Mussarat Islam and Senior Superintendent of Police, Mohita Sharma, last night to supervise the rescue operation.

Divisional Commissioner of Jammu Ramesh Kumar and Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh visited the incident site where a massive rescue operation is underway.
Union minister Jitendra Singh termed the collapse of a part of the tunnel “unfortunate”.
“I am in constant touch with DC Mussarat Islam. Nearly 10 labour workers were trapped under the debris. Another three were rescued and hospitalised with injuries. Rescue operations are going on in full swing. Civil administration and police authorities are monitoring the situation,” he said.
Those trapped inside the tunnel included Jadav Roy (23), Gautam Roy (22), Sudhir Roy (31), Dipak Roy (33) and Parimal Roy (38), all from West Bengal, Shiva Chouhan (26) from Assam, Nepali citizens Nawaraj Chowdhury (26) and Kushi Ram (25), and Jammu and Kashmir residents Muzaffar (38) and Israt (30), officials said.
Two of those hospitalised workers have been identified as Vishnu Gola (33) of Jharkhand and Ameen (26) of Jammu and Kashmir. The third person, whose name has not been disclosed, has been taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, police said.
All of them were employed by a company tasked with auditing the tunnel, they said. Deputy Commissioner of Ramban Mussarat Islam and Senior Superintendent of Police Mohita Sharma are at the spot along with the deputy inspector general of police, supervising the rescue operation.
Kumar, the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, said the rescue operation is likely to consume more time as rock-breakers are being used to create space in order to reach out to those trapped.
Though officials claimed that the audit tunnel is only three to four metres, Kumar said, “It is not known whether they (those trapped) are inside it or outside the tunnel area. There is debris all-around.”