Six months after Deoghar ropeway tragedy, no sign of probe report or remedial action

By Shambhu Nath Choudhary

Ranchi, Nov 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) The probe report by the high-level committee into the ropeway incident at Trikut hill of Jharkhand's on April 10, is still awaited with the panel yet to complete the investigation, after almost six months after the incident, despite the deadline of two months.

This is a classic example of how governments are active only for some days after such incidents, and then proceed to virtually forget about them.

Trikut hill in Deoghar is a famous religious tourist centre. On April 10, at around 6 p.m., three people were killed and more than one and a half dozen injured when one of the ropeway wires broke.

A total of 78 people on 23 out of 24 trolleys of the ropeway were trapped mid-air. Of these, 28 people were rescued on the same day, while 48 people were left hanging without any food or water for the next 36 to 45 hours.

After 45 hours of high-risk rescue operations by the Indian Air Force, the National Disaster Response Force, the Indo Tibetan Border Police and Army, 46 of trapped people were saved, while two died during the rescue operation. One victim died even before the trolley fell.

It was revealed that the private company running the ropeway neither maintained it as per norms nor did it rectify the lapses revealed in the safety audit conducted three weeks before the accident by a government agency.

The agency identified 24 defects in the 1,770m ropeway, which were ignored by the company.

The Jharkhand government issued a notification for the formation of an inquiry committee headed by state Finance Secretary, Ajoy Kumar Singh on April 19.

The committee was instructed to the complete the investigation within 60 days but it only reached the accident spot 70 days after the accident to start its work.

The committee was unsuccessful in completing its report due to the delay in receiving the report of the shaft that caused the accident, from the metallurgical lab, said sources.

However, it is to be noted that the state Tourism Department received this report almost a month ago but it still has not reached the inquiry committee. In wake of the tragedy in Gujarat's Morbi, the probe panel wrote to the Tourism Department, demanding the lab report, and will submit its report soon, said sources.

Meanwhile, the Haradih-Budhadih bridge, built on Kanchi river near Ranchi at an outlay of Rs 13 crore, was washed away even before its inauguration, due to heavy rains triggered by cyclone Yaas on May 27, 2021.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren then announced the formation of a high-level committee to investigate it and warned that corruption would not be tolerated.

The committee headed by the Road Construction Department's Engineer-in-Chief, Murari Bhagat, was instructed to probe the matter and submit a report within a month. Even after one and a half years of the collapse, no action has been taken against anyone. Apart from Bhagat, Building Construction Department's Engineer-in-Chief, J.P. Singh was also a member of the committee.

In 2017, the bridge built on the Sewane river in Dandai Kalan village of Hazaribagh collapsed in just four years. Complaints of poor construction came to the fore even when the bridge was being built.

After the probe, then Executive Engineer of Special Division in 2013, Gopal Ram Rajak, was suspended. The contractor was instructed to build the pillar of the bridge again.

In Jharkhand, more than three dozen bridges have collapsed in the last decade due to substandard construction, but no action against the culprits, except of suspension for a few months, has been seen in any of these cases.

Some of these collapses are of the bridges over Tehale and Koel rivers in Palamu and over Pusai river in Dhanbad.

There are still many such bridges in the state, which pose danger every day. For instance, the Chirkunda-Barakar bridge connecting Jharkhand and Bengal in Dhanbad has two of its pillars on the verge of collapse.

From Chirkunda's side, the soil and stones under the second pillar of the bridge have moved, while a crack has been seen in the fourth pillar, making it prone to collapse at any point of time.

The bridge was constructed in 1925 by Kumardhubi Engineering Works Ltd (KEW). The signboard there clearly states that vehicles carrying a maximum load of 10 tonnes can pass through. But flouting this instruction, many goods vehicles pass through it every day. Life and property will suffer a major loss if this collapses, as well as the connection between Jharkhand and Bengal will be broken.

Similarly, in Hazaribagh district, the bridge built on Sewane river connecting Daru and Tatijharia blocks is damaged and sinking at one side, which can lead to a major accident anytime.

The construction of this bridge was completed a few years ago at a cost of crores of rupees and it has been severly damaged in a short period of time. This bridge, situated on the main road connects Dhanbad, Giridih, Gomia, Bokaro etc.

The bridge connecting Dhanbad-Jamtara at Bajra Ghat of Barakar river and Auranga river bridge in Latehar are under threat due to illegal sand mining.

A bridge over Karo river on Govindpur-Urmi road in Khunti district was damaged in August. A part of the bridge has sagged down and can cause a major accident any day.

Source: IANS