Experts visit Kashmir tunnel collapse site, NHAI to submit report in 10 days

NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR : A committee of experts visited the collapse site of an under-construction tunnel at Khooni Nallah on Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Jammu and Kashmir in which 10 labourers were killed.

The three-member panel will also suggest remedial measures to complete the project.  The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways set up the committee under the chairmanship of Professor JT Shahu of IIT-Delhi.  “Further action would be taken based on the committee report. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has already initiated a process to handle such emergency situations and is also taking all possible measures to avoid such accidents in future,” said the ministry.

The ministry has also directed the NHAI to issue directions to officials and has sought a report within 10 days. On Thursday night, a portion of the under construction tunnel between Digdole and Khoni Nallah on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway had caved in Ramban district caved. 

While two workers were rescued immediately, the rescue work was hampered by intermittent shooting stones and bad weather. Rescuers ran against time to save 10 workers were trapped inside the tunnel, but it was too late by the time they entered the collapsed structure.

The ministry said that the stretch is prone to frequent landslides or shooting stones due to fragile geology.  “Before workers could be moved out, suddenly a huge rock mass fell above the false steel portal erected for construction of an audit which resulted in the trapping of 12 workers… It is yet to be determined what was the cause  of the collapse,” said a ministry official.