Bypassing of environmental nod in focus after U'khand tunnel collapse

The under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot comes under the 880-km Char Dham project or Char Dham Pariyojana which bypassed environment impact assessment (EIA) after the project was divided in to several stretches that were small enough to not warrant EIA or environmental clearance.

- Jayashree Nandi

Experts said that if an EIA had been conducted for the project, there would have been a disaster management plan in place and it would have helped decide if the location was safe for constructing such a tunnel.

Part of the roof of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, trapping 41 workers, who are expected to be rescued this weekend. When asked about whether lack of EIA due to division of project in several stretches had an impact, state minister and in-charge minister of Uttarkashi district Prem Chand Aggarwal said all the issues will addressed after the rescue of 41 workers: "Our priority is the rescue of all trapped workers. We will look into these issues later."