Uttarakhand: Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya’s allegation – Silkyara Tunnel accident happened due to inexperience, negligence and corruption in project construction.
Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya alleged that the Silkyara Tunnel accident happened due to inexperience, negligence and corruption in project construction. The options being worked on to rescue the people trapped after the accident should have been established at the time of starting this project. He demanded that this is a matter of endangering dozens of lives and of large-scale corruption, hence the government should conduct a CBI investigation into the accident and register criminal cases against the culprits.
Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya reached the accident site in Silkyara today and took stock of the situation by meeting the district administration, technical experts, organizations engaged in rescue, members of the families trapped inside the tunnel and local people. He said that, at the time of starting the construction of the project, adit tunnels and escape tunnels should have been constructed which were not built. In case of debris or accident, trapped people can be evacuated through these tunnels. The Leader of Opposition said that no long tunnel in the world is built without an edit tunnel, therefore the government should clarify how this 5 kilometer long tunnel was being built without being an edit tunnel.
The Leader of Opposition said that the second option to safely rescue the people trapped in this project, the hume pipe, was also removed a few days ago. In the absence of adit tunnel or hume pipe, the crime of pushing the workers working in the project to death has been committed.
Yashpal Arya said that the debris has fallen only in the initial 70 meters of the tunnel but even after nine days of the accident, everything is still uncertain. The progress of the six options that are being discussed for rescue operations is currently negligible on the ground. The Leader of Opposition said that no matter how big claims the government makes, the Silkyara accident has exposed disaster management at the state and national level.
The Leader of Opposition said that despite all these shortcomings, he appreciates the courage and hard work of the personnel engaged in the rescue work and prays to God that all the trapped people are brought out safely.
Former MLAs Vijaypal Sajwan and Manoj Rawat, District Panchayat President Deepak Bijalwan, President District Congress Committee Uttarkashi Manish Rana, former District Panchayat President Naththi Lal Sah, District Panchayat members Pradeep Kaintura and Satendra Kumiya, Block President Surendra Pal during the tour to Silkyara along with the Leader of Opposition. President Congress Chinyalisaur, Vijendra Nautiyal, OBC Cell State Vice President and former President Student Union Depinder Kohli were present.
