Mishaps are happening again and again in the Himalayan region, underlining the need to check building and construction activity there. About 40 workers were trapped on Sunday in a tunnel they were building under the Char Dham highway project in Uttarakhand. Rescue attempts have been on since but faced a setback following a landslide at the spot on Tuesday night. The highway collapse occurred in a section of the controversial project between Brahmakhal and Yamunotri in the Uttarkashi region. The project, intended to link four pilgrimage centres in the region with wider roads, has invited strong criticism as an environmental hazard. The government has pushed through the project violating a number of laws and without adequate environmental impact assessment. It involves destruction of about 690 hectares of forests with 55,000 trees and evacuation of about 20 million cubic metres of soil. Slope-cutting, tunnelling, dredging and debris generation would exert unprecedented pressure on the terrain which is sensitive and fragile.
