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| Listening to our protests could save Rambam tragedy:DSS | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, May 23: Shocked at with the news of the unfortunate avoidable Ramban Tunnel tragedy of 19 May 2022, the Dogra Sadar Sabha had a virtual meeting of its core group convened by their president Th. Gulchain Singh Charak. Members recalled how repeatedly they have cautioned the J&K government about the improper alignment of the Ramban section of the Ramban-Banihal Road being re-aligned. Timely listening to our woes could probably save the avoidable loss of these ten unfortunate valuable lives that are lost.
Re-alignment was for 13.6 kilometres for bypassing dangerous zones in the area which were coming under the road widening project. As per the realignment plan, 5 tunnels, 33 culverts, 13 viaducts, 11 minor bridges, and 3 underpasses are planned to be constructed to bypass treacherous stretches. Former minister Th. Gulchain Singh Charak who visited the construction site repeatedly had detailed survey and consultations with the local public and other stake holders. He pointed out the inclusion/ exclusion of the villages has been done on various 'consideration' and appeared to be under greater influence for inclusion/exclusion of villages for connecting instead of scientific soil evaluation, water flow thrust lines and the grain of the country. The traditional established routes, their time tested alignments and configurations have been sacrificed for the sake of pleasing certain parties while ignoring others. Veteran knowledgeable members Col. Dr. Virendra K. Sahi VrC (Retd) and Col. Karan Singh (Retd) indicated that the "Khooni Nallah" is dreaded and infamous for many decades and has been site of scores of accidents and losses of hundreds of lives and vehicles. The re-alignment should have clearly distanced from it, unless there were some 'other' considerations.
Gambhir Dev Singh Charak, I/C Youth wing of the Sabha brought out that the Sabha objected to this alignment with our press release on 29.3.2020 published by major print media. It was followed by emails sent to Hon'ble LG, Chief Secretary, Div. Com. Jammu and D C Ramban on 11.2.2021 and personal visit by President DSS to Ramban to have on the spot study on 13.2.2022 followed by press conference on16.2.2022 to draw the attention of the concerned authorities, the construction companies and the UT government. Alas all fell on deaf ears and ten precious lives are lost. The DSS recommends Rs 10 Lakh compensation to the family of every killed labour from the UT Government, 25 Lakh from the concerned agencies executing the project, with a job employment for one family member.
The DSS also calls for an inquiry against those responsible for faulty alignment under a hired national level expert committee that should also listen to local sentiment and common traditional knowledge before recommending fresh/ modified alignment.
The members were informed that this Ramban-Banihal stretch along Srinagar-Jammu National Highway has recorded only about 38 percent physical progress so far. The central government has earlier fixed December 2021 as the deadline for the completion of the project with an outlay of Rs 2169 crore, however, the project could not be completed on time as the authorities have submitted further DPR for realignment of the 13-kilometer road stretch in order to bypass landslide-prone areas. The fresh dates of completion may be decided only after ensuring the foolproof safety measures as recommended by the expert committee. |
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