Government Set To Overhaul Tunnel Construction SOPs To Avert Silkyara Tunnel-Like Incidents

On Friday, the government announced its intention to overhaul the standard operating procedures for tunnel construction following the identification of numerous deficiencies in the Silkyara tunnel, which collapsed in November of last year. The incident resulted in 41 workers being trapped for over two weeks, prompting the need for procedural improvements.

At a press briefing, Road Transport and Highways Secretary Anurag Jain said the Silkyara tunnel project in Uttarkashi is still workable, and the government will not abandon it. An experts' panel to investigate the collapse of a portion of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel has pointed out many shortcomings in the project, he added. Silkyara tunnel collapse se humne kaafi kuch seekha hai (We have learnt a lot from the collapse of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel), he said.

On November 12, a section of the under-construction tunnel collapsed, leading to the entrapment of 41 workers. The rescue efforts successfully freed the workers on November 28. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on December 6  formed a five-member committee to probe the tunnel collapse incident.

The committee has suggested some changes in standard operating procedures (SOPs) of tunnel construction. Based on the committee's suggestion, we will change SOPs for tunnel construction to prevent the occurrence of Silkayara-like mishaps in the future, he added.

The Silkyara-Barkot tunnel is being constructed by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) through the efforts of Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd. This single-tube tunnel is divided into two interconnected corridors by a partition wall, with each interconnector corridor designed to serve as an escape passage for the other.