India tunnel collapse ‘wake-up call’ for Modi’s infrastructure drive

NEW DELHI: India´s aggressive infrastructure push into the ecologically fragile Himalayan mountains has been given a “wake-up call” by the collapse of a road tunnel that trapped 41 men, environmental experts say.

The partial cave-in of the under-construction Silkyara road tunnel in northern Uttarakhand state nearly two weeks ago -- with the desperate men still awaiting rescue on Friday -- was only the latest disaster in the geologically unstable region.

Added to that are the challenges caused by rising global temperatures unleashing a cascade of extreme weather that scientists warn will get worse. “The scale and extent of the infrastructure development needs a complete rethink,” Shripad Dharmadhikary, an environmental researcher and veteran activist, told AFP.

India´s monsoon rains mean flooding is common, but major infrastructure projects in the mountains -- including hydroelectric dams, railways and roads -- are being built in areas hit ever harder by storm surges and landslides. “It is one thing to build roads for local connectivity,” Dharmadhikary said.

“But roads for big hydropower projects are much wider, increasing vulnerability and risk... Scale makes a big difference.” Raghav Chandra, ex-chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), warned on Friday that “building a tunnel through a mountain is perilous”, but dangers were multiplied when such large-scale projects are poorly carried out.