One of the cable cars that plunged into the tea garden. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Oct. 19: Preliminary investigations indicate that the three gondolas of Darjeeling Rangit Valley Ropeway plunged into the tea garden below after the cable running on fixed wheels of tower number four came off its groove.

Though local politicians here have begun the blame game, indicting the Calcutta-based, Conveyor and Ropeway Services Private Limited, of gross negligence, the company representative here stated that everything was running smoothly before the mishap took place.

“At 8 am we ran the routine safety check and did not find any snags in the system. Only after that did we begin taking in passengers as usual from 10 am. The cars ran smoothly for about an hour. Until 11.15 am, when the accident occurred, there was no sign of anything amiss or we would have taken immediate action,” said ropeway manager S. Chowdhury.

Chowdhury, who said that only a thorough technical probe would reveal what went wrong, also indicated that the concrete base of the tower from which the cars fell needs to be checked. “There is a possibility that the base could have shifted due to the rain and the soil getting weakened, causing a shift in the balance of the entire system,” Chowdhury said.

Divisional manager of the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation (WBFDC) Neeraj Singhal said the corporation had entered into a joint sector agreement with the ropeway company and the rides were re-introduced from 1998.

“The company is experienced in this field and has ropeways running in places all over India like Mumbai, Raipur, Bhopal and Vishakhapatnam. However, we will have to wait for the technical investigation report,” Singhal pointed out.

Local residents, however, claimed that several cars had fallen off the cable during the trial runs prior to the services being re-introduced.

This was, however, not confirmed by Singhal, who said he was not posted here during that period.

Local councillor of the Singamari-Tukvar area Bimal Gurung said the company was to be blamed for the tragedy. He alleged that the ropeway company had been negligent and had done nothing to maintain the equipment.

Gurung, who witnessed the accident, said the company staff rarely carried out safety checks in spite of regular reminders from him.

“The daily morning routine inspection is hardly carried out. Even the 10 volunteers we have supplied them from the locality are hardly put to work,” Gurung claimed.

“I witnessed the tragedy from our local party office of the GNLF. When I saw the first car come crashing down, I immediately rang the cable car office, but no one bothered to pick up the phone,” the GNLF councillor said. He said that even as he was making the call, he saw the other two cars fall.

“This tragedy could have been avoided,” said Gurung.