Uttarkashi : In the vicinity of the open tunnel designed as a vehicular safety conduit on the Gangotri highway, regular landslides occur, but they are still ignored। Although the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) actively handles the segment beneath the tunnel that has been hit by a landslide, regrettably, the associated area behind the tunnel has not received any remedial measures।
Since 2010, NHIDCL has committed Rs. 28 crores to repair the landslide-affected hill in Chungi Badethi area on the Gangotri highway, which passes through the district headquarters। However, this effort proved ineffective, resulting in the construction of an open tunnel at an additional cost of Rs. 28.3 crores as a safety gallery।
In August of 2021, the first landslide beneath the finished open tunnel, which was completed in 2021, succumbed. A 50-meter section of the tunnel near the Bhagirathi River succumbed। After that, in the previous July, a significant landslide transpired beneath and in the back of the tunnel। While the NHIDCL has recently used rock bolting to address the landslide-affected area beneath the tunnel, it has regrettably overlooked the landslide that occurred behind the tunnel, which has caused a significant amount of debris to accumulate। At one point, the tunnel’s wall was hit by a massive debris mass, which compromised its structural integrity।
Since the landslide comes from the hill behind the tunnel, questions arise about the Rs. 28 crore allocation for the hill’s landslide mitigation। Although a significant amount of money was invested in stabilizing the slope of the landslide-affected hill, this intervention has failed to prevent repeated landslides, even after three years।
The open tunnel is carefully designed to prevent landslides expressed concern that if a landslide occurs behind the tunnel, the consequences could put the tunnel’s integrity at risk- Colonel Sandeep Sudhera, Executive Director of NHIDCL,
