Abhisek Ghai
Corroborating The Hidden News exclusive report on collapsing of under construction tunnel on Jammu-Srinagar Four Lane project, the mishap took place at Khooni Nala on late Thursday night, Ramban Police has registered a negligence case against the construction company engaged in the work.
Meanwhile, at least nine bodies of workers came under the derbies when a portion of tunnel collapsed, have been recovered. The Hidden News on Friday a published a report on basis of experts’ findings, and also exposed that the incident occurred due to negligence of NHAI as well as the main contractor CEIGALL India Pvt Ltd, which had sub-contracted it to SARLA Construction, which was not an approved contractor under NHAI.
Safety norms were also flouted by company while executing the works on tunnel. The companies engaged for the works did not follow any tunnel-construction norms such as manual excavation, which is necessary for 20 meters was not done and the blast was taken on the face of tunnel, thus the tunnel developed cracks & fractures, which led to the collapse. Also, no slope protection measures like pipe roofing, rock bolting was done. In fact, there was no geologist present at site, which is necessary for rock classification. PATEL CONSTRUCTIONS, which is the main contractor working with CEIGALL in a joint-venture, was also absent from the site. NHAI had no representation at the site. Its authority engineer, ICT was also unavailable. There was no provision for safety engineer and a proper lighting system for visibility. Even their drawings were not yet approved by NHAI.
As per the sources in District Administration Ramban, the rescue operation remained underwent on Saturday as well. Meanwhile, District Police taking cognizance of the accident, has registered a case of negligence against the company engaged in the work.
