Environmental and Social Dimensions of Tunnel Collapse Negligence in the Himalayan Region

Theoretical framework and integration

From a social movement centered in the United States, the EJ framework has developed into a global analytical paradigm that addresses disparities in the distribution of environmental risk and decision-making. The movement’s origins can be traced to African American communities’ antitoxics campaigns in Warren County, North Carolina, in the 1980s, ⁹ which demonstrated how social and economic marginalization and environmental burdens frequently coexist. The “father of environmental justice,” Robert D. Bullard, defined EJ as everyone’s right to a healthy environment and equitable treatment in environmental policies, regardless of race, class, or geography. This fundamental idea presents EJ as a moral and political reaction to environmental prejudice and unequal growth. ¹⁰ According to Schlosberg, expansion of EJ theory beyond distributive considerations, environmental justice also hinges on whether impacted communities are recognized, acknowledged, and given the ability to participate in environmental decision-making. ¹¹ In a similar vein, Walker highlights that EJ encompasses both procedural justice, which is the fairness of policy processes and access to environmental governance, and distributive justice, the equitable distribution of environmental goods and bads. The EJ paradigm is especially well-suited for examining infrastructure-related environmental impact, where governance, exclusion, and inequality converge because of these multifaceted viewpoints. ¹²

More recently, Pellow has promoted critical environmental justice, calling on academics to investigate the systemic and intersectional aspects of injustice, such as labor, class, and international economic institutions, that uphold environmental disparities. This enlarged approach emphasizes the cumulative effects of both environmental degradation and exploitative labor practices on marginalized groups, which include low-income rural communities, migratory laborers, and indigenous populations. In this way, the collapse of the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi is not merely a technical error but also an example of structural injustice, representing disproportionate exposure to environmental vulnerability and occupational risk in the Himalayas. ¹³

In Global South situations, when development projects in ecologically fragile zones perpetuate new forms of marginalization, the EJ framework has been employed. Martinez-Alier has chronicled the growth of EJ movements throughout Latin America, Asia, and Africa, where communities oppose large-scale infrastructure or extractive projects. ¹⁴ EJ studies in India have looked at displacement brought on by mining, dam building, and urban growth.^15,16 These findings show a recurring pattern: while elite and corporate interests are prioritized, national development programs frequently impose environmental and occupational dangers on excluded groups. This tendency is demonstrated by the Himalayan infrastructure push under the Char-Dham project, where worker precarity and ecological fragility coexist under the pretext of “development and connectivity.”

The Silkyara crash also represents the rejection of the right to safe and respectable employment from an OJ standpoint. According to Townsend and Wilcock, OJ is the equal availability of secure, fulfilling, and long-lasting work settings.⁷ According to Durocher, Gibson, and Rappolt, occupational injustice happens when people are excluded from making decisions that impact their working conditions. In addition to ecological risks, migrant workers in the Silkyara tunnel experienced procedural exclusion due to their lack of representation in safety governance and environmental risk assessment procedures. ¹⁷

This study’s integration of different scholarly strands enables it to see the collapse of the Himalayan tunnel as a justice-oriented issue rather than just an engineering or environmental management failure. It draws attention to the systemic injustices ingrained in labor relations, environmental governance, and development strategies. Therefore, the pursuit of infrastructure advancement in ecologically vulnerable areas perpetuates unequal costs and silences local voices and jeopardizes both ecological integrity and human dignity. This is made clear through the application of environmental and OJ frameworks. A multifaceted perspective for examining the Silkyara tunnel collapse is provided by integrating EJ, OJ, and occupational disaster research. EJ shows how risk is created by the intersections of sociopolitical discrimination, infrastructure excess, and ecological fragility. The lived experiences of workers who are denied safe and fair working conditions are highlighted by OHJ.

Reasons for the tunnel collapse

The study provides various reasons for the tunnel collapse. One of the reasons is that the Himalayan region is known for the formation of young fold mountains, which grew due to the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Tectonic activity at the leading edge of the crust formation forces crustal compression at a compression zone, and the majority of fold mountains are situated on the margins of or adjacent to continental plate borders. Compared with rocks found in the continental interior, rocks near the edge of the continental crust are frequently weaker and less stable, and as a result, they are more prone to folding and warping. Sedimentary and metamorphic rocks formed at high pressure and relatively low temperatures make up the majority of fold mountains, which are formed in an underlying layer of ductile minerals, like salt. Operating machinery close to the edge of continental crusts is extremely dangerous, as the area is unstable and fragile. ¹⁸ Next is geological complexity, which is characterized by a complex combination of rock types, fault lines, and seismic activity. Sundiryal commented that the rock on which the Silkyara tunnel is built is weak like slate and siltstone, and it required proper planning and a support system during the construction, which the implementing agency ignored.¹⁹ Studies report that the unconfined compressive strength of a typical siltstone can be about 15 MPa, and siltstones may have a significant presence of clayey materials, which is highly dangerous and must be ignored rather than experimented. ¹⁹

The third reason is the extreme weather variations, where heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures in winter to intense monsoons with frequent landslides significantly impact tunnel construction projects. During winter, low-pressure weather systems advance into the Himalayas from the west and cause heavy snowfall. Thus, construction during this season, which is nearly appraoching the winter, can bring huge damage to the work. ²⁰

The fourth is high altitude, because of which the logistical complexities, limited accessibility, and increased transportation costs for manpower and construction materials are highly challenging. Forecasting, inventory planning, and stocking have to be well planned according to the flexible season for transportation, and in case of military forces, the task becomes even more stimulating. Specialized vehicles such as refrigerated vehicles, containers that carry bulk fuel and other essentials, are also used in these terrains to ensure product integrity up to storage points. In certain cases, only air transport is the option for last-mile connectivity, particularly in military supplies to forward posts.

Fifth is seismic vulnerability, as the Himalayas are situated in a seismically active zone, one of the most seismo-tectonically active zones on the earth, making earthquake preparedness a top priority during tunnel construction. Building tunnels in the Himalayas requires careful consideration of seismic safety measures, as the region is known for strong earthquakes. ²¹ Thus, a seismic wave causing a wreck in the rock could also be a reason for the collapse of the tunnel. The sixth challenge is the presence of fragile rocks with fractures and joints, making them weak to sustain large overhead weight, and may occur from shear or tensile stress, which exceeds the rock strength, causing the rock to split along its weakest plane. ²² Seventh, water seepage due to the flow of water or any fluid through the soil or the ground is often a critical problem in geology. Water erodes loose rock particles over time, creating a void on the top of the tunnel, leading to the caving of the tunnel by reducing the capacity to hold further weight. Eighth is the fragility due to the occurrence of landslides caused by seismic waves, where the main central thrust /Barkot thrust of the Himalayas passes a few kilometers north and northwest of the incident site.

Ninth is lack of geological and geotechnical studies, such as petrographic analysis and seismic refraction waves analysis, before the construction works for determining the strength of the rock, and negligence of warning from previous studies. The tenth drawback is the authorities’ failure to ensure that an escape tunnel was designed simultaneously with the main tunnel, which is mandatory during emergencies such as collapse.

The conceptual basis for comprehending the Silkyara tunnel collapse as an example of unequal environmental governance rather than only an infrastructure or geological failure is provided by the EJ paradigm. In the 1980s, grassroots movements in the United States gave rise to the EJ framework,⁷ which has now developed into a global paradigm for examining the distribution of environmental risks and benefits among various socioeconomic groups. It highlights three interconnected aspects of justice, which are: 1)

Distributive justice, or fair distribution of environmental advantages and risks.

When taken as a whole, they provide a dual perspective on the Silkyara collapse: an occupational injustice perpetrated upon precarious workers deprived of safety and a voice in regulatory decisions, and an ecological injustice forced upon Himalayan ecosystems. The rescue team used a walkie-talkie to communicate with the tunnel after the drilling was done at its top. A steel pipeline with a diameter of 900 cm was placed inside to extract the trapped people. Arnold Dix, engineer, professor, scientist, barrister, and the president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, was the man behind every scene of the incident rescue process who took the initiative to oversee the entire rescue operation.

Most of the trapped workers recorded high blood pressure, which was attributed to anxiety of being trapped inside the tunnel. The rescue officers who went to save them were also injured. The people inside the tunnel were left without food, water, and fresh oxygen. The biggest setback was the breakdown of the auger machine used in drilling an escape passage through the debris. It included access to electricity, water, and ample space for the trapped workers. ²³

The initiatives taken for ensuring safe tunnel construction mechanisms in India include the creation of the Tunnel Zone department in the MoRTH (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India), with a mandate to build the capacity for excellence in tunnelling and preparation of guidelines on the design and construction of tunnels. The Constitution of Expert Committee on Tunnel has been created for resolving technical issues that arise in the implementation of tunnel projects in the country. Indian Standard Codes such as IS 15026 (2002), IS 4756 (1978), and IRC code 2019, including Integrated Tunnel Control Systems, prescribe the guidelines for tunnel design, lighting, and ventilation for tunnels. The Work in Compressed Air Regulations, 1996 Emergency Evacuation and Rescue Plans for tunnels & RDSO (Research Designs and Standards Organisation) are implemented for tunnel construction. ^24,25

Tunnel-building technology is around 200 years old, and if executed properly, tunnels are safe. During the rescue operation, Defence Research Development Organisation deployed the Remote Operated Vehicle—Daksh, designed to be used on a pan-tilt platform to help reach risky terrains; it can operate continuously for 3 hours, covering distances ranging from 100 to 500 m. ²⁶

Previous catastrophes in the Himalayas and the neglected warnings

1)

Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Power dried up the river bed and endangered aquatic life, ignoring the warning from the Central Electricity Authority in April 2022. ²⁷

Global example of similar catastrophes

There are global examples that are similar to the Silkyara tunnel collapse in terms of systemic failures, ecological destruction, and environmental injustice. Each case reveals how evolution and engineering design, when unprepared, lead to environmental deterioration and undiversifiable risk, especially for marginalized and under-resourced communities and vulnerable ecosystems. The examples are: 1)

San José Mine Collapse—Chile (2010): A disaster in a copper-gold mine near Copiapó where 33 Chilean miners were trapped underground for 69 days, and later rescued. ³² This incident, just like the Silkyara tunnel collapse, happened due to the negligence and fragile and unprepared safety measures, where the repeated warnings regarding the unsafe working atmosphere were ignored by government agencies. More importance was given to the economic profit from mining and construction than the safety of the working population and protection of ecology. Through the EJ perspective, the vulnerable workers bore the risk of destruction, and this shows the lack of corporate transparency in environmental clearances and permission.

Occupational health and justice and the tunnel collapse

The foundation of OJ is the conviction that everyone has the right to work in a variety of fulfilling jobs that fulfil their unique requirements and help them reach their full potential. Barriers to meaningful employment are viewed as injustices in the literature. Lack of conceptual clarity on OJ and related terminologies is one barrier to implementing OJ in practice. The conceptual underpinnings of OJ must be explained, and models for occupationally just practice must be further explored, before an occupationally just perspective may be further developed and applied. According to Durocher et al., societal institutions that deprive people of power over their workplaces lead to occupational injustice.¹⁶ These injustices result in exposure to potentially fatal risks, insufficient safety infrastructure, and exclusion from risk assessment procedures in high-risk industries like mining and tunnelling. Such denial is best illustrated by the collapse of the Silkyara tunnel, where workers, mostly migrants from low-income states, were denied both a safe workplace and a say in decisions that would affect their survival.

Benach and Muntaner highlight that power dynamics, unstable employment, and labor fragmentation are the main causes of disparities in health outcomes. According to their findings, the absence of employer accountability and regulatory compliance increases the risks of disease, injury, and mortality for workers in temporary or informal employment, like those in the Silkyara project. ³⁵ Instead of viewing workplace disasters as isolated episodes, Occupational Disaster Research places them inside systemic governance failures. Industrial disasters are “normal accidents” in complex systems where human mistake interacts with structural and technological vulnerabilities. ³⁶ According to Sørensen’s and Christiansen’s Risk Society theory, modernity’s quest for advancement creates new uncontrollable hazards, ³⁷ which is a new perspective for Himalayan megaprojects that puts speed and scale ahead of ecological balance and safety. According to these studies, catastrophes such as Silkyara are not just technical mishaps, but rather political and moral occurrences brought about by institutional carelessness and unequal power dynamics between the government, businesses, and labor unions. In its Convention No. 155 (1981), the International Labour Organization affirms that all workers have the right to “a safe and healthy working environment.” However, the Silkyara project’s management structure reflects the weak enforcement, subcontracting chains, and privatized responsibility systems that weaken accountability. ³⁸

Though the tunnel plays a major role as a connector, its strength, durability, capacity, and all other factors are to be checked before the construction processes. The safety of workers and the local population needs to be prioritized with due diligence, conducted by independent expert teams before project initiation. The absence of preproject due diligence leads to migrant workers facing heightened safety risks, while developers remain unaffected by financial consequences, and takes a toll on workers. The loss of lives and social consequences prompts a call for sustainable development with minimal environmental impact.

The absence of effective governance and the failure to draw insights from past disasters provide no precedent for guiding future projects. The government should focus on development without compromising ecological balance or endangering the lives of project workers and local residents. Adverse and disparate environmental burdens cause the Himalayan ecosystem and its people to face uneven ecological risks for national-scale infrastructure benefiting outsiders (e.g., tourists, religious circuits). The collapse of the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand highlights the urgent need for a culture of due diligence, prioritizing safety, ecological balance, and risk mitigation in infrastructure projects, particularly in sensitive regions, such as the Himalayas. ³⁹

Excessive mechanical work will turn out to be one of the main reasons for the sinking of Radi Mountains in the future. Also, the mountain becomes covered with snow during the winter, which percolates and melts, rendering porosity, as a result of which multiple aquifers run through the area. But for the tunnel, scores of trees have been felled, land is being dug up, and aquifers disturbed, which is a major environmental concern. In case of this incident, fair treatment of all individuals, particularly low-income, indigenous, and marginalized groups local Himalayan communities and construction workers, who were primarily low-income migrants, were left out of decision-making processes and not to be subjected to hazardous environmental circumstances.