U’khand tunnel collapse: ‘You can’t act surprised,’ says environment expert

India’s government ignored a recommendation that it conduct a formal environmental risk study on a highway tunnel project that collapsed and trapped 41 workers.

While large projects in India are required by law to undergo an Environmental Impacts Assessment, the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarakhand was exempt as it is divided into segments smaller than 100 km each. So the Supreme Court in 2019 asked an expert panel to suggest risk mitigation options.

“We wrote to the government asking them to conduct a rapid EIA” but the study wasn’t submitted, Ravi Chopra, the panel’s chairman, said by phone on Tuesday.