40 men are stuck for more than a week, inside a tunnel located on the Yamunotri National Highway near Silkyara that was being constructed under the Chardham Highway Project, when the geologists and environmentalists had fore warned about mindless road development in the sensitive Himalayan region.
After the incident, geologists have once again raised questions about the Char Dham Highway project. One scientist questioned whether geological and geotechnical studies were conducted during tunnel alignment. Such an investigation is conducted prior to any such construction and a report is provided to the construction agency. The Supreme Court has also issued directions to establish a panel to study environmental and ecological concerns in overcrowded hill stations across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and other Himalayan states.
The geological and geotechnical studies carried out would be mentioned in the report if they were at all carried out, said another top geologist. This raises another concern, what were the actions taken by the tunnel building company to avoid such an incident, if the studies were carried out?
According to geologists,The Main Central Thrust (MCT) of the Himalayas passes a few kilometres north and northwest of the incident site. This means that this area is extremely sensitive to earthquakes and frictional shear rocks are present in this area.
They say that near the tunnel site, A three-level road is being built where Shear rocks were visible throughout the area and heavy construction here can be dangerous.
According to SP Sati, chairman of the environment department at Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, explosives were being used openly during tunnel construction .
As per the news report, the rescue official said “ This accident could have been worse had it not occurred on the day just preceding the Diwali holiday. Each shift working on the tunnel comprised 150 to 200 workers on regular days. Because Diwali was around the corner, many workers were on leave, while some did not show up for work. The rescue officials blamed this on the lack of proper “geological inputs” because they are finding it difficult to work with the area’s highly malleable rock and other experts are surprised at how the construction of a tunnel of this size was allowed without a thorough geological survey”.
Joshimath is already facing the ire of mother nature. The Govt kept ignoring protests and pleas of residents for 14 months, and pushed on with mega projects.
Almost 700 houses and several roads have developed cracks as the land beneath the town continued to gradually sink, and these numbers are increasing by the day. Yet, the Govt did not wake up. The last 14 months were filled with warning signs, and residents alerted the authorities repeatedly.
It’s therefore not surprising that the tunnel collapsed. However, what is surprising is, no Govt official had resigned or put its foot down against the Govt diktats.
Is It unusual?
This kind of callousness, indifference towards public safety and security is a norm all over India. Surprisingly, even loss of life does not matter to us anymore ; be it during riots, lynching of innocent people, accidents and so on.
One. Two years ago at a cost of Rs 304 crore, the Karam dam was built in Dhar district of MP, to provide water for irrigation and drinking to nearby villages, surprisingly the dam could not sustain even the first rains and it leaked. Thousands of villagers had to be evacuated.
Two. Floodwaters broke through a dam leaving 150 people missing and 26 people dead in the Uttarakhand dam disaster last year.
Three. A guard wall at the powerhouse of the NHPC’s 2,000 MW Subansiri hydro project along the Assam- Arunachal Pradesh border, collapsed due to rising water level in the Subansiri river.
Four. The 275 MW Kopili Hydropower Dam had again faced a major disaster in March 2022. Earlier, the same project had suffered disaster in October 2019.
Five. Within a week of the inauguration of the 296km Bundelkhand Expressway, by PM a part of it got damaged following heavy rains. The express way got damaged at Chhiriya Salempur village in Jalaun near the 195km milestone of the expressway. A few more damages were also reported at other points of the expressway.
Six. After yet again a Boat tragedy, The Kerala High Court said in May 2023 “ A deadly cocktail of callousness, indifference, greed and official apathy was the cause of the never-ending boat tragedies occurring in the state”.
And, Finally the hanging cable bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30 killing almost 135 people, many of them were children as young as ONE YEAR OLD. The Local Municipal Authorities had given a contract to Oreva Group for its maintenance, which manufactures watches, clocks and E Bikes.
The list is endless.
Why does it happen repeatedly?
All the above mishaps have taken place because of the - " Spineless YES MEN " occupying top positions and they are both; Politicians as well as Bureaucrats.
Moral character has nothing to do with Religion and it has nothing to do with number of temples, churches or mosques you have in your country, city or village.
In each of the cases quoted above, the Politicians and Officers who issued Contracts were mostly Hindus, The Contractors were mostly Hindus and finally those who got killed, majority of them were Hindus – Sanatanis.
So, instead of becoming religious we need to focus on Character.
Sam Manekshaw had clearly warned us of such men. he had said;
"A ‘yes man’ is a dangerous man. He is a menace. He will go very far in his career. He can become a minister, a secretary or a Field Marshal but he can never become a leader nor, ever be respected.”
Ayn Rand a renowned writer and philosopher very aptly said for societies like ours;
“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed”.
Everything she spoke here makes sense.
We have a bunch of spineless Officers who can not stand firm and do not have the moral courage to speak the truth. We have millions who proudly claim ; Musibat mey Gadhey ko bhi Baap bana lena chaiye.
Often one hears our Officers, justifying dishonesty and compromise ;
One. Bahut Pressure hai Upar sey, kya kartey.
Little realising that they are being paid more and made to sit on that coveted position to bear that pressure and give correct professional advice.
And the second one is, " Apney ko kya lena, hum apna career kyun kharaab karein" , which leads them to - who will bell the cat?
They are as a result, scared to give the correct professional advise to their Bosses/ Ministers , either, because of their own vested interests or may be because of the fear of reprisal.
Sam Manekshaw while disagreeing with Mrs Gandhi had said; “ Ma’am, I am willing to resign on the grounds of poor health, you can choose another General. In 1962, your esteemed father had a weak-kneed General who did not give the correct professional advise and as a result the country had to face humiliation”.
It’s easier to make a movie on Sam and project Mrs Gandhi in poor light for political reasons but its rather difficult to have moral courage as displayed by Sam and large heartedness of Mrs Gandhi to call back Sam, listen to him and agree to his rationale, rather than asking him to Resign.
We need to once again create a system which enabled officers like Sam and Gen Thimmaya to climb the career ladder. The current system all over is rotten and is not conducive for people like them to reach the top.
It is the system that allows upright people to reach the top and discard the sychophants very early.
We have to therefore, once again re-engineer the whole system so that we have upright Officers who have the moral courage, climbing up the ladder and reach the top instead of rewarding sycophants and Yes Men.