Chief Minister spoke to PM Modi, gave information about rescue operations
Dehradun (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday said he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone today and informed him about the ongoing rescue operations in the Silkyar Tunnel, where 40 workers were trapped in a section for 11 days. They are stranded when a tunnel under construction collapsed on 12 November.
CM Dhami said in several posts, ‘Respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on 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.”
CM Dhami said that he informed the Prime Minister about the rescue operations conducted in mutual coordination between central agencies, international experts and the state administration.
CM Dhami said in his post, “During this, he was also informed about the positive progress made in the last 24 hours and the morale boosted by the talks between the workers and their families.”
CM Dhami said, “We are constantly getting guidance from the PM to deal with this difficult situation, which gives new energy to all of us every day to take out the labor brothers quickly and safely with full strength.”
Meanwhile, space has been identified for vertical drilling to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara Tunnel, 11 days after the collapse of the under-construction structure.
According to Anshu Manish Khulko, director, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), “The location for vertical drilling has been identified. The road work for vertical drilling on the hill above the tunnel is almost complete. More than 350 meters of road construction work has been completed. BRO is constructing the road from both sides of Silkyara and Barkot which is almost complete.”
Meanwhile, a piling machine which got stuck yesterday due to narrow road has now reached the Silkyara tunnel site.
On Tuesday, rescue workers had attempted ‘horizontal drilling’ and fed solid cooked food simultaneously to the trapped workers.
A total of five agencies – ONGC, SJVNL, RVNL, NHIDCL and THDCL – have been given specific responsibilities to rescue 41 workers who were trapped for 10 days in a 2 km long stretch of the under-construction structure following a landslide. ,
Workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel were supplied with vegetarian pulao, peas-paneer and chapati with butter for dinner on Tuesday through a food pipe stuck in the collapsed part of the structure.
On November 12, during the construction of a tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot, 41 workers were trapped after debris fell in a 60-meter section of the tunnel.
The NDMA official said the tunnel caved in on November 12 and the second barcoat portion of the tunnel was already closed as work on that side had not yet started.
On Tuesday morning, rescue workers managed to insert an endoscopy camera into the tunnel and the first scenes captured showed that the 41 workers had enough space inside the tunnel to walk.
Pictures of workers trapped inside for the past 10 days emerged on Tuesday morning, giving fresh hope to worried relatives, some of whom are camping outside the site of the collapsed tunnel structure (ANI)
