The Jharkhand State Tourism Development Corporation Board (JSTDCB) has decided to seek the opinion of the state law department on the issue of imposing a ₹9 crore fine on the operator of the Trikut Ropeway, Damodar Ropeways and Infra Limited, which was held responsible for the mid-air ropeway tragedy on April 10, 2022, that claimed three lives.

In addition to imposing a fine, the board will also seek an opinion on the issue of blacklisting the company in Jharkhand.

A tourism department official familiar with the development said that the 11-member board meeting held on September 27 was presided over by the development commissioner, Arun Kumar Singh, who is the ex-officio chairman of the board.

Secretary of tourism, art and culture, sports and youth affairs department Manoj Kumar, who was present at the meeting, supported the department official, saying the decision to seek an opinion from the law department was taken to avoid legal complications.

“The board decided to send the copies of the terms and conditions under which the company was assigned work, the company’s reply of show cause issued after the accident and the recommendation of punishment given by the accident probe committee to help the law department give a proper opinion in the matter of quantum of punishment,” Kumar said.

Asked how long it will take to get an opinion from the law department, Kumar said, “At least one month as it takes at least 10 to 12 days only to prepare proceedings of the meeting.”

Amid the administrative proceedings, the board is planning to reopen the ropeway.

“The closed ropeway will be restarted, but before that, there will be a safety audit. The tender for consulting was floated on August 19. The consulting company will prepare the DPR of the ropeway afresh,” the official said.

The ropeway is on Trikut Mountain, located on the Deoghar-Dumka main road under the Mohanpur police station area of the Deoghar district. The Trikut Mountain ropeway wire had broken, trapping many passengers in the trolley. To remove them, the Army, NDRF, and local administration had to get involved in the rescue.

A tourism department official familiar with the accident and probe said an inquiry committee headed by the state finance secretary, Ajay Kumar Singh, in its report, observed that the cause of the Trikoot Ropeway accident on 10.04.2022 was the failure or breaking of the return shaft during operation.

“The probe committee observed that the handbook of working instructions for passenger ropeway at Trikut Hill designed, manufactured, supplied, erected, and commissioned by Damodar Ropeway Construction Company Limited in respect of operation, maintenance, and management of the Ropeway, and the records produced by Damodar Ropeways and Infra Limited were not in compliance with the preventive maintenance plan and scheduled formats for daily and monthly maintenance of all types of ropeways intended for the transportation of passengers,” the official said.

According to another official dealing with the matter, “The probe committee observed that the graphite flake content of grease was 0.96 against the specified value of a minimum of 6. The significance of grease lies in its role in reducing the friction between the shaft and bearings and inside the bearings. Reduced flake content of the grease leads to enhanced friction between the shaft and bearings and inside the bearings, which may in turn cause enhanced stress on the shaft.”

The official added: “The probe team, during visual observation of the mechanical tower, found that the movement of the counterweight was insignificant. It also found that the limit switches were either on one end or placed out of the desired location on the other end. This violates clause 5.3.3 of BIS 5229, which states that the mobility of the tensioning devices shall be ensured at all times, as restricted movement of the tensioning trolley may induce unwanted stresses on the return shaft under full load conditions.”

A tourism department official said the company against whom the state government has planned punitive action does not have a good track record, and reports suggest that the company is involved in at least five places where reports of ropeway tragedies have surfaced.

“The places include Jammu, where on January 20, 2019, two were killed and four injured after the ropeway project cable car crashed days before its inauguration by the PM. Apart from this, on October 18, 2021, a man fell 50 feet off a cable car from Savitri Mata Ropeway at Pushkar in Rajasthan. On May 23, 2022, 28 devotees were left stranded on the Maihar temple ropeway for about 40 minutes amid heavy rains. On July 10, 2022, 60 individuals, including BJP MLA Kishor Upadhyay, were stuck mid-air on Surkanda Devi Ropeway in Tehri in Uttarakhand for 45 minutes,” the official said.

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