A heavy-duty drilling machine flown in by the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Delhi began boring through the rubble of a collapsed tunnel on the Char Dham route in Uttarakhand Thursday, in a fresh attempt to create an escape passage for 40 workers trapped inside for four days.
The minister is expected to bring back the bodies by Monday.
Union Minister V K Singh on Thursday kicked up a storm with his comments that the Centre cannot be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a dog to shield it from criticism for the Faridabad Dalit burning incident, prompting opposition demands for his ouster.
Army Chief General V K Singh speaks to Kalyani Shankar about the age row, the Tatra issue, the letter leak, and his future plans in this two-part freewheeling interview, which was partly broadcast on All India Radio.
Former Army Chief V K Singh on Monday tendered an "unconditional apology" to the Supreme Court for making certain remarks on its order on his age row, saying he had no intention to bring disrepute to the institution and judges, who are like "demigods".
The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities in supply of high-altitude tents worth Rs 22 crore to intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing during 2009-13.
Officials said in the evening that a six-metre section of a steel pipe had been inserted into the bored passage. Another section was being welded into it. The plan is to insert 800 mm and 900 mm diameter pipes -- one after the other -- with the help of the giant drill till an escape passage is created for the workers stranded beyond the collapsed portion of the under-construction tunnel.
"I do not owe an explanation to anybody", a dismissive Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said on Tuesday when asked about his cryptic tweets late last night using words "disgust" and "duty" after representing the government at the Pakistan function in New Delhi.
Patna Additional District Magistrate K K Singh, who beat up a teaching job aspirant during a protest on August 22, was removed from the post with immediate effect on Wednesday.
Sources said the report of the law panel on simultaneous polls is not yet finalised. They said "some more things are required to be done", indicating that the law panel will be invited again by the high-level committee.
The 41 workers, who were rescued from Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation, kept their spirits up while trapped inside by taking morning walks and practising yoga, a rescued worker told Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair for 16 days.
Drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel to rescue 41 men trapped inside for 12 days was halted again on Friday, officials said.
Boring through the rubble of the collapsed Silkyara tunnel was put on hold again on Thursday apparently after cracks appeared in the platform on which the drilling machine rests, in a fresh hurdle to the rescue of 41 workers trapped inside for 11 days.
Former Army Chief Gen V K Singh has pleaded that Jammu and Kashmir assembly drop breach of privilege proceedings against him over his alleged remarks that army had paid bribes to politicians in the state, contending he has not spoken anything that was not available in the public domain.
The MEA said Singh's visit to Pyongyang was at the invitation of North Korean government.
Former army chief V K Singh, who did not turn up before a Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council privileges committee on Thursday, will appear before it on January 22, complying with fresh summons issued in connection with his alleged remarks against leaders from the state.
Singh said efforts are on to deliberately create a misunderstanding for political gains.
'The rocks, the geology of the Himalayas will always spring surprises.' 'It's basically force majeure and the will of god.'
Sources from the Services Department, however, claimed that the order issued by the government was 'illegal'.
"They (opposition parties) are not concerned about the development of the children of the country's poor. Their common minimum programme is to increase corruption for their family. Democracy means 'of the people, by the people, for the people'. But these dynastic parties have the mantra of 'of the family, by the family, for the family'. For them, their family is first, and the nation is nothing," he said.
Alleging that V K Singh had not only damaged the reputation of the army but also of India, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said the former army chief should be stripped of the title of Colonel of Rajput Regiment for "lying".
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while legal affairs secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
'Mr Modi has the necessary initiative, necessary motivation, necessary national thinking to push things forward. Here's a man with proven ability... India can become a superpower provided we shed a lot of things that have plagued us for the past 60 years. One of them -- a major one -- is how the country has been divided for vote banks. We need to sort that out, it will take time, but I am sure once that is done a lot of things will happen which will make this country good and powerful,' says General Vijay Kumar Singh as he battles for the people's vote in Ghaziabad, only the second army chief to contest an election.
C R Kesavan, great grandson of noted freedom fighter and India's last governor general C Rajagopalachari, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday as the party aims to boost its presence in southern India.
Kharge termed the high-level committee constituted by the Centre to examine the feasibility of 'One Nation, One Election' a 'gimmick' and alleged the Modi government wants to slowly replace democracy in India with dictatorship.
A high-level committee to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, held its first meeting in New Delhi on Saturday and decided to invite political parties and the Law Commission to seek their views on holding synchronised polls in the country, a statement said.
Eleven more patients admitted at Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district hospital have died due to various ailments on Monday, taking the death toll to 68 in five days, officials said.
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
The ruling National Conference on Friday demanded a CBI enquiry or a high-level probe into the functioning of a top secret intelligence unit set up by the former Army chief, General V K Singh. The unit is alleged 'to have used secret service funds to destabilise the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir.'
On Thursday, the apex court ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over the administration of services, except for public order, police and land.
Authorities in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh have initiated action against a village panchayat secretary, whose 'three wives' are contesting the upcoming panchayat polls from Singrauli district, an official said on Monday.
Will the former army chief pledge his allegiance to the BJP in the 2014 election?
Ravi Sinha is described as "highly tech-savvy", and credited with infusing modern technology in the field of intelligence collection.
The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against a close associate of Union Minister Gen (retd) VK Singh over alleged financial irregularities in the supply of defence items.
While all political parties have been talking about following in the footsteps of the debutant Aam Admi Party by fielding fresh faces in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar has set the ball rolling by deciding not to renominate his party's three sitting MPs in the coming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha scheduled for February 7. Anita Katyal reports.
Pronouncing the sentence, Judge V S Tripathi observed that the case fell in the rarest of rare category and as such the convicts were entitled to the severest punishment.
There has not been a large impact of untimely rain and hailstorm so far in several major wheat-growing areas, and those might have damaged around 3 per cent of the standing crop -- not enough to make a big dent in the expected 112 million tonnes of production in FY24, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Relentless rain pounded most North Indian states all through March. Separately, the chairman of Food Corporation of India (FCI), Ashok K Meena, told reporters the agency was on track to achieve the targeted 34 million tonnes of procurement in FY24 on the back of a strong start to the purchase season from Madhya Pradesh.
Readers have responded resoundingly to our invitation to congratulate the ISRO team for Chandrayaan-3's successful Moon landing.
An IAF flight carrying Indian student Harjot Singh, who was shot in Ukrainian capital Kyiv a few days ago, landed at the Hindon airbase in New Delhi on Monday evening, officials said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances