On Saturday, 12 of the 25 labourers were hurt in a landslide in the Vishnugad hydroelectric project run by THDC at Helang in the Uttarakhand district of the state of Chamoli, the officials confirmed. District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said that the incident happened as about 300 workers were engaged in construction work at the barrage site. When rocks started rolling down the slope, labourers fled, but 12 workers could not manage to get out of the way of the impact in time.
Tiwari claims that 8 of the injured workers received minor injuries, and 4 of the workers received severe injuries. All the labourers who got hurt were taken directly to Vivekanand Hospital in Pipalkoti. One of the seriously affected workers has sustained a broken leg, and another is also being carried to Srinagar, Pauri district, to obtain an MRI of the spine in order to determine the scope of damage caused to his spine.
According to the district magistrate, there were about 70 labourers in the same location when the landslide hit. As a precautionary measure, the site has had the construction-related works halted. Authorities have directed THDC to start working only after those measures are provided and ensure the safety of workers.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police, and the health department were rushed to the spot as soon as information about the mishap was received. This project is a hydroelectric project that is being developed by THDC, and it involves the construction of a barrage that diverts water from the Alaknanda River near Helang to Pipalkoti through a tunnel, where it will be turned into electricity through the use of turbines.
Remarkably, it is not the only case of such an incident that happens at the site. In 2021, floods in the Alaknanda River caused much damage to the same barrage area, which slowed the project pace. The project is currently placed under safety measures to avoid any such accident taking place in the near future.
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