Ramban tunnel collapse: All 10 bodies of laborers recovered

Jammu: A search and rescue team working at the under-construction tunnel collapse site in Jammu’s Ramban district, on Saturday completed recovery of all 10 bodies of missing Laboures from the debris after they were trapped in the rubble since Thursday. “All the ten bodies have been recovered and the operation is concluded,” Ramban Deputy Commissioner Mussarat ul Islam told UNI updating on the incident that took place two days back. He said that a case has already been registered following the collapse of the tunnel. A senior police official said that the bodies of all the 10 missing workers have been identified as Jadav Roy, Gautam Roy, Sudhir Roy, Dipak Roy and Parimal Roy (West Bengal) and Shiva Chouhan (Assam), Navaraj Chaudhary and Kushi Ram Chaudhary and Mohammad Muzaffar Mohammad Ishirat (Ramban). On Thursday around 10.15 pm, the Ajit tunnel of T3 caved-in, near Khooni Nallah, trapped 12 labourers of Sarla Company working at the site. Two persons were rescued and were shifted to district hospital Ramban. One of them, Vishnu Gola (33) from Jharkhand was referred to as GMC Jammu. Former legislator and senior leader Aam Aadmi Party, Balwant Singh Mankotia, called for an immediate law to check the practice of contract subletting in Jammu and Kashmir terming it disastrous for development. Interacting with the media at the site, Mankotia said over the last couple of years it has been seen that some reputed construction firms of national level get the task of execution of development works but later these firms sublet their contract to some local contractor who many a times are found ineligible and inexperienced to execute vital project. He called for an immediate check on this practice and demanded a law in place against contract subletting. Mankotia said it affects quality of work as well as becomes a risk for manpower. He also demanded a high-level probe into the Ramban tunnel tragedy to establish human error if any. “The Government must provide an immediate ex gratia to all the victim laborers besides financial aid to the injured and free medical treatment,” he asked. (UNI)