VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, April 13: Dhanbad-based Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) which conducted a safety audit of the 1,771-meter-long steel rope of Trikut ropeway in Deoghar, found the condition of the rope satisfactory for the operation.
But the report prepared by Debashish Basak, the chief scientist, and project director added a note of caution that “special attention may be given to diameter and key length measurements, as the rope is more than seven years old.”
This rope was installed in November 2014 by Kolkata-based Damodar Ropeway and Infra Ltd.
The audit was done on the basis of a field visit conducted on March 17 by Basak and technical officer Samchak Waghmare. The team used INTRON Rope Tester Technology for the testing of this magnetic rope. The audit report said that there were “24 local flaws/initiation of flaws” and said that a “close visual watch” must be kept on the rope and its joints or the “splicing portions”. But the probe did not cover the aspect of the fatigue that the rope might have developed over the years due to the hauling of cable cars.
On being contacted, Basak said that he did not find any problem with the rope. “My investigation was limited to the steel rope which was installed seven years back. But the condition was satisfactory. I did not find any breakage. I would have flagged problems in the rope if I had found any. Besides other recommendations, I said that the rope should be kept clean from foreign particles,” said Basak.
He further said that there must be some structural problems causing a sudden breakdown. “As I came to know, the steel rope slipped from the axle and then from pulleys. There may be some structural issues,” he said.
The accident took place on Sunday evening when two people died on the spot. Two other occupants of the cable car died during the rescue operation. There were as many as 63 people in 24 cable cars.
Jharkhand Tourism director Rahul Kumar Sinha was contacted for comment on the date on which he received the audit report and whether he found anything alarming in the report.
“The exact cause of the accident can’t be ascertained. A technical committee is going to be formed to carry out the probe. Technical experts from the government and institutions side will be the members. I believe the committee will be formed very soon,” said the tourism director.
