A delegation led by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Pramod Kumar
Mishra took stock of ongoing efforts to rescue 41 trapped workers in Silkyara
tunnel in Uttarkashi on the 16th day of the operations.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Uttarakhand Chief Secretary SS
Sandhu along with Pramod Kumar Mishra inspected the work inside the tunnel.
The Principal Secretary enquired about the food items sent to the workers
trapped inside the tunnel. PK Mishra spoke to the trapped workers and their
families.
Micro tunnelling expert Chris Cooper said all the debris of the auger
machine has been removed and manual drilling to reach the trapped labourers
will start in a few hours.
The auger machine being used for horizontal drilling of the tunnel that
got stuck inside the pipe was cut and removed using a plasma cutter, on Monday.
Vouching for the manual method, former Army Engineer-in-Chief, Lieutenant
General Harpal Singh (Retd), told ANI that there is no other way left except
the manual method to reach the trapped workers.
Singh said he reached the site to provide technical inputs and further
aid the ongoing rescue operations. He added that efforts are made on all fronts
to speed up the rescue process.
As per official sources, the rat hole mining technique will be used
through manual drilling to remove the debris inside the pipe to accelerate the
rescue.
The rat hole mining technique is generally used in coal mining,
especially in regions that have difficult terrain.
A team of 6 specialists have reached the site to undertake the manual
drilling work and a team of 11 people will go inside the 800 mm pipe of the
tunnel to remove the debris manually.
The team includes engineers from the Indian Army’s Madras Engineering
Group as well as civilians.
In collaboration with the Border Road Organisation and other agencies,
efforts are also underway to enter from the other mouth of the tunnel that is
the Barkot side.
Four blasts were undertaken under the supervision of BRO and so far, only
10 metres out of 500 meters have been covered.
Also, the rescuers are planning to build a mini tunnel along the left
side of the tunnel, horizontal but perpendicular to the Silkyara tunnel, the
work of which will be undertaken by SJVN.
After a portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12, the debris falling
in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel trapped 41 labourers
inside the under-construction structure.
ANI
