Shimla, Dec. 17 -- Leakage from underground water pipelines, coupled with vibrations generated by tunnel construction, was responsible for the sinkhole along the Bhattakufer road in Shimla, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has concluded in its report. Submitting the same to the Shimla district administration, the GSI recommended that all blasting activities related to tunnel construction be halted while allowing construction work to continue through manual methods.

The report states that the sinkhole measuring 2.2 metres in length, 1.5 metres in width and approximately 4 metres in depth appeared along the roadside at Bhattakufar on November 22, prompting the administration to temporarily halt internal excavation work in the area and ...