Recently, ten people lost their lives as an under-construction tunnel collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir. Later, the company involved in the construction of the tunnel was awarded for excellence. Now, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has barred the company from participating in any tender process for three months.

The three-month embargo is too little a penalty for the company involved in such a major mishap. As per the rules of the ministry, in the case of an infrastructure collapse and death of people, the company concerned should be blacklisted for at least three years. Such a company cannot participate in any tender process for the stipulated period.

A document of the ministry confirmed that ten people had died due to tunnel collapse in Ramban district of Jammu-Srinagar on May 19, 2022 at 10.30 pm. The ministry constituted an expert committee to probe the incident.

Meanwhile, the construction company wrote to the ministry requesting it not to take any punitive action in the matter. In the letter, the company cited its self-regulation against participation in the tender process for one month i.e. June 29, 2022.

It is to be noted here that in response to the letter of the company, the ministry extended the period of ban from participating in the tender process to three months from May 30, 2022. A decision on the ban will be taken after the final report of the ministry’s special committee.

Apart from this, the ministry has given Excellence Awards for the best performance on 28th June 2022 to the officers of NHAI, Construction Companies, Consultants, etc. It also includes the name of the said company involved in tunneling.

There is heated debate in the ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) over the penal action to be taken against the poor performance of construction companies in the light of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the ministry on October 6, 2021. If the SOP is applied in the case, the company in question would have been blacklisted for at least three years.

In addition, 1 percent of the total cost of the project would have been levied from the company as penalty. The chief executive officer of the company would have been removed from the project. Apart from this, there is a provision for punitive action and heavy fine on the consultant of the project. But, in the case of the company responsible for ten deaths in the tunnel collapse in Ramban, the ministry did not follow its own SOP.

In this regard, a reply was sought from the Secretary of the ministry, chairman and PRO of the NHAI through a mail, but their no reply has been received till writing the news.