Tunnel work causing cracks in nearby houses: Villagers
MUSSOORIE: Anil Dutt Tiwari, a 40-year-old resident of Sweeth village in Pauri Garhwal district, was elated in 2015 with the starting of the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway project, but his joy was short-lived as the houses in his village, including his own, began to develop cracks due to blasting work to create a tunnel though which the rail line would pass.
Once completed, the railway line, a dream project of state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj, will connect Rishikesh with the hills of Garhwal, reducing the travel time to a couple of hours not only for the residents but also for the pilgrims heading towards Kedarnath and Badrinath. Sabar Singh Kandari from Sweeth village said, “Since the beginning of tunnel blasting work using powerful explosives in 2019, houses in our village have been developing cracks. This continues unabated instilling fear among the villagers, who are now demanding that the government stop the blasting work and give compensation for the damages.”
The villagers from Sweeth are agitated at the use of powerful explosives to drill into the mountains to pave way for the main tunnel from Srinagar to Dobripanth which will be 15 kilometre long. Apart from houses developing cracks due to tunnel digging, cases of land subsidence have also increased, villagers say. Villagers claim that over 100 houses have developed cracks in Sweeth. They say similar cracks have also appeared in the houses of villagers from Dhamak Narkota and Dobripanth.
Anil Dutt Tiwari, a villager, said, “After a massive protest which led to stalling of the project, a five-member committee headed by the district magistrate was formed which conducted a survey in December 2021. The committee identified 224 affected families from Sweeth village and a compensatory package ₹1.50 crore was recommended and forwarded to the executing agency Rail Vikas Nirman Nigam Limited (RVNL), which has not paid the amount so far.”
Ajay Veer Singh, Srinagar subdivisional magistrate, said, “236 affected families whose houses have developed cracks were identified and a compensation package of ₹1.50 crore was recommended but as the findings of the study are not conclusive, the executive agency Rail Nirman Vikas Nigam Limited has raised an objection and will present its case in front of the Pauri district magistrate soon.”
He said, “The residents of 27 houses in Hydel Colony at Srinagar also reported development of cracks due to tunnel blasting and we have been conducting a videography of developed cracks in the houses and no conclusive evidence has come to fore that the cracks are due to blasting.”
The tunnelling work has crossed Sweeth village and the executive agency has been directed to use less amount of explosives for blasting, said officials.
The ongoing 125.20-km-long Rishikesh-Karnaprayag broad gauge rail line is a dream project of PM Narendra Modi estimated to cost more than ₹16,200 crore which will connect Rishikesh in the foothills to Karnaprayag.
It will have 35 bridges and 17 tunnels, of which over 15.1-kmlong tunnel from Devprayag and Lachmoli is being claimed to be longest in the country.
The project will have 12 stations.
Social activists have expressed their concerns at the indiscriminate blasting for tunnels.
Anoop Nautiyal, social activist and founder member of SDF Foundation, said, “We are already witnessing the increase in cases of landslides, so precaution and care need to be exercised while taking up such projects.” Rail Vikas Nigam Limited officials have refused to pay the compensation, saying that a scientific study is needed to determine whether it is due to tunnel blasting work or any other reason.