An avalanche hit near the Sarbal area close to the Nilgrath area in Sonmarg, around 90 km from Srinagar, killing one labourer of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) which is executing the work on the Zojila Tunnel.
“One body has been recovered so far. Another person to our knowledge is still under snow,” Project Manager, Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited, Harpal Singh told Outlook. He said the police and the SDRF teams have reached the spot and he has also informed the Army. He said the Army would join the rescue operation with their dog squad. “We don’t know how many are trapped. It may be only these two or it may be more. But I am surprised what they were doing there as we had stopped the work due to snow,” Singh said, adding that they had instructed the labourers not to work during the snowfall. He said there is a probability that they had gone out to make videos when the avalanche struck.
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“It was not a construction site where the incident took place. That is why we are surprised by what these workers were doing there,” he added. The snow avalanche hit the area at 10 am today.
Meanwhile, the 434-km Srinagar-Leh strategic road that connects the Ladakh region with Kashmir has been closed for the winter season due to the below-freezing temperatures. This year the Zojila Pass remained open for the first time ever till Jan 6.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. (MEIL) has been awarded the construction of the Zojila tunnel. The company continues to work in the winter to meet the deadline of the project.
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The Zojila tunnel will be a two-lane highway (9.5 meters wide and 7.57 meters high) in the shape of a horseshoe. The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM), an advanced technology, is being used in these works.
The government of India conceived the idea of the Zojila tunnel in 2005 to have all-weather connectivity to Ladakh as the UPA government felt all-weather connectivity to Ladakh was a strategic necessity. The government started exploring the possibility of the tunnel and handed over the project to the BRO in 2013.
In 2016 the NDA government raised funds and floated bids but one player came forward under BOOT mode. The concerned agency, however, failed to carry on the work and the project stopped for a few months. Then in 2020, the government of India came up with a new design and the work was allotted under EPC mode where a contractor has to design, construct and maintain the tunnel and funds would be provided by the government. The actual deadline for the project is 2026 but the company is trying to complete it before the deadline. To meet the early deadline the company continues its work in the winter as well.
