Glaring violations of SOPs in Jammu ropeway mock drill

it Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 21

A day after the death of two labourers and injuries to four others on Sunday, the Jammu ropeway incident has exposed glaring violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) by the executing agency, Damodar Ropeways and Infra Limited.

A senior official of Damodar Ropeways and Infra Limited informed The Tribune that as per the SOPs, while performing such mock drills, the executing agency needed to inform all other agencies concerned.

“The rescue trolley involved in the incident was meant for a maximum of four people, but there were six in it. Also, all people performing the mock drill should have worn headgear and had to be hooked to the rope,” sources said.

“None of the safety guidelines were followed during the mock drill, otherwise precious lives could have been saved,” they added.

Damodar Ropeways and Infra Limited is installing the cable car for Jammu city from Bahu Fort to Mahamaya temple and Mahamaya Temple to Peerkho. The agency was scheduled to hand over the project to Jammu Kashmir Cable Car Corporation for commercial operation after clearing the safety tests.

Subrata Ganguly, project in charge, Damodar Ropeways and Infra Limited, refused to comment on the issue.

A rescue trolley had fallen during the mock drill near the Mahamaya temple on Sunday in which a labourer was killed on the spot, while five others sustained injuries.

According to the police, one of the cable cars got detached and crashed, resulting in the death of the workers on the spot and injuries to five others.

The 1.66-km-long cable car project has two phases, first from Bahu Fort to Mahamaya Park and second from Mahamaya to Peer Kho over the Tawi, with a total length of 1,118 m. The agency has completed the project and only safety testing were pending.

The Rs 75-crore project would be the third cable car project in the state, as the first cable car project of the state was commissioned in 1988 at Gulmarg in Kashmir and the second was commenced recently at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra.