The deaths of workers inside an under-construction hydropower tunnel in Sikkim expose a danger that cannot be dismissed as an unpredictable consequence of building in the Himalayas. A suspected methane explosion may have triggered the disaster, but naturally occurring gas is a known underground hazard. The real question is whether a foreseeable risk was adequately detected and controlled before workers were allowed deep inside the tunnel.

The scale of the loss makes that question urgent. Twenty five bodies have reportedly been recovered. Eleven of those confirmed dead were from North Bengal, giving the tragedy an especially painful resonance in the state. Their deaths also illuminate a less visible reality of India’s infrastructure expansion: workers often travel considerable distances from economically vulnerable regions to undertake some of its most hazardous construction. The tunnel forms part of a hydropower project of the state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, designed to channel Teesta waters to turbines.

Such projects demand exceptional safeguards. Underground construction can encounter methane pockets, unstable rock, water ingress and poor ventilation. Gas detection, forced ventilation, ignition controls,........

© The Statesman