Fault lines in NHAI’s management plan come to fore

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 22

Major cracks in houses and sinking of land due to the ongoing four-laning work on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Ramban’s Halwagan village has brought to the fore fault lines in the “management plan” of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The geologists of the state have raised eyebrows over the “casual approach” being adopted by the executing agency that has tendered out the construction work to Hindustan Construction Company vis-à-vis risk posed to habitations along the highway in the sensitive zone.

“The NHAI would definitely have formulated a management plan before starting the work on the four-laning project in terms of its feasibility and environment impact assessment. The entire stretch of the highway in Ramban district is ecologically fragile. The illegal blasting and faulty excavation by contractors have made slopes more unstable,” said Prof Shakil A Romshoo, head of the earth sciences department, Kashmir University.

“Either the management plan of the NHAI is faulty or the contractors are not implementing it in a holistic manner. Last year too, same reports of cracks in houses and land slips were reported from a village in Ramban. It means something is wrong somewhere and we will have take care extra care while executing the project,” Prof Romshoo said.

Prof GM Bhat, state’s noted geologist said, “The executing agency should have taken into account all aspects, including fragile geological conditions of all areas along the highway, before starting the widening work. They might have completed all paper work but extra precautionary measures were required to be taken in the Himalayan region which is in the Seismic Zone IV”.

“The proper mechanism of excavation and disposal of sand have not been followed. The hasty work is being executed to save money at the risk of people’s life. Even if they complete the project, it will be very difficult to stabilise major slopes,” he said.

The four-laning of the existing 286-km highway was started in 2011 and the project was stipulated to be completed in five years but the slow tendering process on difficult sections — widening of the Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km) and Banihal-Ramban road (36-km) — delayed the work.

Hemraj, general manager, NHAI regional office, Jammu, however, claimed that all aspects with regard to the geological survey were covered in the detailed project report of the widening work. “Our officials will attend the meeting called by the Ramban administration and will resolve the issue in Halwagan village. We are doing our job professionally.”