The tunnel of hope

I wrote a blogpost in July 2012, about the Rohtang tunnel being excavated on a national highway of great importance, the Leh-Manali Highway. I had explained in that blogpost the historical background and the strategic necessity for which this highway was planned soon after India's independence and work had began in 1950 itself. This highway was opened to traffic in 1965, just after India-Pakistan war for military transportation and later for everyone.

Manali-Leh route travelling over 485 KM, is militarily safe because it is far away from international borders. Because of this road, the life and death importance of Kargil road to Ladakh has been reduced to quite an extent. Even then, there remains one great obstacle on this highway, which makes this road unusable during winter months. About 51 KM from Manali, this route passes through Rohtang pass, which is at an height of 13000 feet. Because of very heavy snow fall in this valley, the pass remains closed for at least 6 months a year. With the pass remaining closed, road communications to Lahaul-Spiti araes, which are just north of this pass and also to Ladakh, gets totally blocked. Since both, Kargil and Ladakh route close in winter, Ladakh's road connection with rest of the country is totally cut off for 6 months every year. Even in summer, the weather in Rohtang pass is unpredictable with cold biting winds and sub zero temperatures.

To overcome this natural obstacle, the Indian Government flagged green to a project of digging an all weather tunnel under Rohtang pass. In 1984, Geological Survey of India carried out the preliminary studies and in 2000 the work on a road leading to Rohtang pass, costing 180 Crores Rupees(Rs. 1.8 Billion) was started at the hands of then Prime minister Atal Bihari Bajpai . An Australian company , SMEC International, was appointed as consultants for this work. After the report of this committee was received, in September of 2009, the work of building a tunnel under Rohtang pass was awarded to an Indian-Austrian company, Strabag-Afcons, and the work commenced on 28 June 2010. Horse shoe shaped Rohtang tunnel is 8.8 KM long and would have a width of 11.25 meters. Instead of using the old Rohtang-Leh road, a new road passing thorugh Shin Kun pass in Zanskar valley and Padm town in Zanskar, is also being built at the cost of 286 Crores Rupees (Rs.2.86 Billions). All these works were expected to be completed by 2015.

The project met its first unexpected delay in form of a heavy ingress of water through the rock face inside the tunnel in July 2012 and presented a new challenge for Border Roads Organisation. Giant boomers and heavy construction equipment had to be brought in to control and deviate the steady flow of water that was not supposed to have been there in the first place. The engineers and workers had to work wearing masks, fluorescent jackets and knee-high rubber boots had to wade through slush and water, under the glare of floodlights.

The water ingress,spread over a small area and giving the impression of miniature spring, at the rate of 35 litres per second, was flowing into the tunnel at the last point of excavation at the south portal, meaning that about 30.24 lakh litres of water, enough to fill up a small lake, was entering the tunnel every day. According to engineers the inflow was unexpected as the rock survey did not reveal any such water presence at this point. In desperation, BRO resorted to chemical grouting using polyurethane procured from Switzerland, rock bolting and pipe umbrella roofing, which involved boring steel rods and mesh, to strengthen and stabilise the overhead rock. The Swiss chemical was expensive and about 4.5 tonnes, costing about Rs 35 lakh, was used. Due to the ingress of water, the project was running roughly 300m behind schedule in July 2012.

After 2012 incident, as per my knowledge, no further delay has been reported by BRO. But local press reports say that the project would now be completed only in 2017. This delay has made people in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh state of India, restless as, this tunnel, which they call as tunnel of hope is really something on which their entire future depends.

Lahaul-Spiti district,spread over 13833 square km but with a population of 31,528, has the lowest population density of 2 per sq km in country. Their only contact with rest of the country is through Kullu, that too after crossing the 13050-foot-high Rohtang pass. So during winter months, the tribal district is cut off from the rest of the world in late October or November following heavy snowfall and opens up only in April or May after snow is cleared from Manali-Rohtang-Keylong road. People resent this cut off because during winter months, even the helicopter service faces problems and it becomes impossible to get specialized medical treatment. Completion of tunnel was expected to propel tourism business in Lahaul-Spiti but now people would have to wait longer to witness the tourism boom and fulfillment of their dreams

The Rohtang tunnel has already become a dream of the lifetime and a  lifeline for Lahaul residents, even before its completion. So high are the hopes! To meet the challenges of the mammoth task, the BRO has brought in an array of hi-tech and automated equipment, much of which is imported and some of which is being used for the first time in India. But if unexpected problems arise like ingress ofd water in 2012, there is very little BRO can do. Residents of Lahaul-Spiti district may have to wait for couple of more winters before their life line opens for them.

20th August 2014 


p.s. As reported in Border Roads Organization, Annual Chief Engineers Conference, 2014, out of total length of 8.8 Kms, 4.4 Kms length of tunnel has been completed by September 2014. The completion date has now been pushed forward to 2017.

9th July 2015
 

A tragedy beyond words

In the autumn of 2010, I had gone visiting northern parts of the Indian state of Karnataka. On my way back, while travelling from the town of Irkal to city of Solapur, I passed by a huge dam known as “Almatty” dam. Just next to the “Almatty” dam, a vast and beautiful park has been developed by the Government. Near the huge gate, which marks the entrance to the dam wall, a wooded small road led to the vast reservoir of water dammed by the wall. Being curious, I decided to walk down the small distance to the water. When I reached an open ground at end of the road, I found to my surprise that there was no access to the water reservoir as the reservoir was totally barricaded with a 7 or 8 feet high chain link fence. After inquiry, I found out that no visitors were allowed near the water as it was not considered safe.

This little incident comes back to my mind, when news of a most appalling and horrific tragedy in Himalayas is being reported by Indian media. A batch of 48 engineering students from VNR Institute of Engineering and Technology, situated in Bachupally on the outskirts of Hyderabad had left the city for an industrial tour on 3^rd of June 2014. However, it appears now that their tour was not purely an industrial tour and also included some site seeing in the Himalayas, with hill stations of Shimla, Kullu and Manali included in their tour itinerary.

The tragedy struck when this batch of students was travelling in a bus from Shimla to Kullu by Mandi-Manali highway which runs alongside Bras river. The bus carrying in all 61 passengers, had taken a halt at a temple on the way, known as Hanogi Mata temple. This temple, dedicated to Hango Goddess, is situated amidst lush green forests, near Pandoh town in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh struck.

The spot is located in between two water reservoirs; upstream reservoir at Largi, where the river is dammed and a down stream reservoir at Pandoh. The spot is very picturesque and because of the two reservoirs, the river does not flow very fast here. On the shore line, there are few rocks and some students wanting to take pictures of the river bed and of upstream town of Thalaut, did something very foolish. They left the bus and went down to the shore line with a few students venturing even a bit deeper into the waters.

As the students laughed and made fun of each other, they had no idea of the impending danger. In the next minute or two, a flash flood of gushing waters of the river hit them. Before they knew what was happening the river just swept them away. At least 24 students are now feared to be dead.

All hell broke loose with this sudden catastrophe and rest of the students along with local residents raised great alarm. However the disaster had struck them so unexpectedly that no help could be given to the unfortunate students, who now are believed to have been perished.

But what exactly caused this sudden unexpected flash floods? Investigations revealed that it was a man made disaster as the water stored in the reservoir of the Larji hydropower project was released by the operating staff without any warning being given to downstream areas of the Beas river. A case of callous ineptitude and apathetic indifference to responsibility no doubt.

The staff says that a warning was given, a claim disputed by local residents and everyone. The Government machinery has taken some actions against the staff but it is all too late because 24 precious budding lives have been lost for no fault of theirs, forcing their families to a state of terrible despair and anguish. It is a tragedy beyond words.

What really hurts is the total neglect towards safety of innocent people, who travel on this road shown by local Government. Hanogi Mata temple is a very popular stop and hundreds of cars and buses stop here every day. In the video, shown on TV, I saw a flight of steps built up to the river from the road. There are no signs warning the visitors that there is a possibility of flash floods, which might cause extreme danger to anyone venturing out to the river. It is also impossible to imagine, why a chain link fence and a padlocked gate has not been provided near the steps to prevent visitors from taking undue risks.

Himachal Pradesh is perhaps the most beautiful and picturesque area in India. Yet no concern about safety of the travellers is shown by the state tourism department. This tragedy has struck even before memories of last year's flash floods have been erased from our memory.

12^th June 2013

The Rohtang Tunnel

Every day, we glance through umpteen number of news items in the news papers and then just forget about them. Some of these news items, are very significant from future point of view, yet we fail to realize their hidden importance. One reason for missing out important news is the prominence for civic issues like blocked gutters, traffic chaos and heaps of garbage on streets, given in daily papers. These issues grab all the reader attention, leaving aside news of real significance. In July 2010, I had read a news item that work has began on the 'Rohtang Tunnel'. This news item also had appeared in the 10 o' clock news on TV. Even then I had failed to catch the real significance behind this news. Last year I paid a visit to Leh and Ladakh. Only after my visit to Leh, when I came across another news item about Rohtang pass, I realized the real importance of this project.