Tunnel collapse: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday (November 22) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took information about the ongoing relief and rescue operation after the under-construction Silkyara tunnel collapsed in Uttarkashi, leaving 41 workers trapped. The operation entered its 11th day today when the location for the vertical drilling to bring out the workers was identified. "Drilling has been done up to 39 meters in Silkyara Tunnel. So far the whole operation is going well. All workers can be fired by tonight or tomorrow morning," officials said today.
“The location for vertical drilling has been identified. Road work for vertical drilling on the hill above the tunnel is almost complete. More than 350 meters of road construction work is complete. BRO is building a road from both Silkyara and Barkot sides which is almost complete,” Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), Anshu Manish Khulko said.
Additional Secretary Technical, Road and Transport Mahmood Ahmed said, "An additional 800 mm pipe has also been pushed 21 metres inside the tunnel. Around 12:45 am, we started drilling through the auger machine and so far, we have pushed three more pipes...As long as we reach 45-50 metres inside the tunnel, we will not be able to give you the exact time. We are also doing horizontal drilling, we have entered around 8 metres from there as well".
Uttarkashi SP on rescue ops
Uttarkashi SP Arpan Yaduvanshi said that 39 metres drilling has been done and if no obstacle is encountered, the trapped workers will be able to be rescued quickly.
"The progress has been really good since last night. We have crossed 39 metres. Everyone is excited, the operation is moving in the right direction. If there are no obstacles ahead, we will quickly be able to rescue the trapped workers..." he said.
Head of Safety, L&T on rescue ops
Nigel, Head of Safety, L&T, expressed hope that a breakthrough can be achieved with drilling.
"The current situation is that they are drilling a way...This is going very well...Hopefully, they are going to break through... It looks like it is going to happen... For us, we are providing guidance and support in terms of what they are doing... We are also assisting with the micro-tunneling as well... The job has to be done correctly and in a systematic way..." he said.
A piling machine that was stuck yesterday due to the road being narrow, has now reached the Silkyara tunnel site.
The rescuers had attempted ‘horizontal drilling' on Tuesday and served trapped workers with veg pulao and mater paneer in dinner.
A total of five agencies-- ONGC, SJVNL, RVNL, NHIDCL, and THDCL-- have been assigned specific responsibilities to evacuate the 41 labourers trapped for 10 days in the 2-km-built portion of the under-construction structure following a landslide.
CM Pushkar Singh Dhami briefs PM Narendra Modi
Dhami briefed PM Modi on the progress of the rescue operation.
“Respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone today and took information about the ongoing rescue operations to provide food, medicines and other essential items to the workers trapped in the tunnel under construction in Silkyara, Uttarkashi and to get them out safely,” Dhami posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The rescue operation is underway.
(With ANI inputs)
