Silkyara tunnel project to continue after safety audit: Official

The 45 kilometres long Silkyara tunnel project in Uttarakhand which is part of the central governments strategic 900km Char Dham Yatra All Weather Road will continue after the necessary safety audit and repair of the broken structure a senior road ministry official said on Wednesday reported news agency PTIThe ambitious Rs 12000crore project aims to provide allweather connectivity to four holy towns Yamunotri Gangotri Kedarnath and Badrinath in Uttarakhand reported PTIA rescue team on Tuesday pulled out all 41 workers trapped under the collapsed portion of the underconstruction Silkyara tunnel in a multiagency operation that hovered between hope and despair for almost 17 days reported PTIIn fact the safety audit of the Silkyara tunnel will be conducted Meanwhile efforts will be made to repair and rectify the broken structure The necessary precautions will be taken and the 45 km long tunnel project will continue the official who was part of the rescue team told PTISpeaking to PTI project head of Zojila Tunnel Harpal Singh said there could be several possible reasons for the collapse of the Silkyara tunnelThese could be poor geological investigation underdesigned ground support systems mistakes during construction poor data monitoring and mitigation measures during construction or poor supervision control he explainedSingh was of the view that all highway and rail tunnels should be planned with an escape tunnel parallel to the main tunnel reported PTIThe strategic Zojila tunnel an allweather link between the Kashmir valley and the Ladakh region is being constructed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd MEIL reported PTIIn 2021 in an interview with PTI Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari had termed allegations that the Char Dham road project triggered landslides in Uttarakhand as misinformation and asserted that the government is sensitive about ecology and environment while carrying out development projects reported PTIGadkari had pointed out that now the hilly terrains have been secured with the construction of a tunnel beneath Chamba town reported PTIA 2019 report headed by veteran environmentalist Ravi Chopra described the Char Dham project an ongoing road project that will connect the four important pilgrim towns of Badrinath Kedarnath Gangotri and Yamunotri as an assault on the Himalayas reported PTIThe committee recommended limiting the width of the road to 55 metres on the Char Dham project However in December 2021 the Supreme Court in its order allowed the road width to 10 metres reported PTIThe Supreme Court allowed doublelane widening of the Char Dham highway project in Uttarakhand observing that the countrys security concerns may change over time and the recent past has thrown serious national security challenges reported PTIThe judgment clearing the way for a doublelane paved shoulder DLPS configuration for the project had come in the backdrop of the standoff between Indian and Chinese militaries in several areas along the LAC line of actual control in Ladakh reported PTIThe considerations for development of national highways in plains and in hilly and mountainous regions are not identical it had noted reported PTIPrime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the Char Dham Yatra All Weather Road Project on December 27 2016The original deadline of the project was March 2020With inputs from PTI