As a decision to restart the widening works on the Gap Road stretch of the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway is likely on Friday, the focus is on reports of three Subcollectors that have raised concerns over safety aspects of the works.
A series of landslips on the stretch had damaged the road and nearby agriculture land.
The report submitted by Devikulam Subcollector S. Prem Krishnan says that irrevocable damage has been done due to large-scale blasting and unscientific road widening works on the ecologically sensitive stretch.
Earlier, Subcollectors V.R.Premkumar and Renuraj had also given reports on the unscientific construction on the stretch.
The report submitted by the Subcollector to the Revenue Principal Secretary recommends an inquiry into the lapses on the part of the contractor and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials on the ‘unscientific’ road widening work that triggered the landslips.
As the road was at an elevation of 5,000 ft, safety aspects taking into consideration the sensitivity of rock formation and soil conditions should have been followed. It should be probed whether soil stability test and environment impact assessment were done prior to the road works.
“Earlier, Gap Road was made in an eco-safe manner and no landslips or mudslides had been reported on the stretch. After the road widening work was undertaken by the NHAI, more than 15 landslips had been reported on the single stretch,” it says.
Quarrying activities
The report also calls for an inquiry into the quarrying activities there.
“Unscientific and large-scale mining activities carried out in the region as part of the road work have resulted in environmental destruction in the region with irretrievable loss to the ecology.”
The report also demands an inspection of the quarrying works inside the road alignment level. A primary inspection found that the contractor conducted illegal quarrying in poramboke land.
It also raises concern on the manner in which inspection was done by NHAI officials. On October 8, 2019 a major landslip caused death of two workers.
After the landslip, a report was submitted by experts from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) and the works were resumed. But a series of landslips was again reported in the region.
In a landslip on June 17, 2020 nearly 200 metres of the Gap Road stretch was swept away.
More than 13 acre of cardamom cultivation also suffered damage.
It is estimated that more than two dozen landslips have occurred on the stretch in the past two years. The stretch was closed for traffic considering the chances of landslips in June.
The ₹268.2-crore road-widening works on the Munnar -Bodimettu stretch was started in 2017.
