Rat-hole mining may be illegal but the talent and experience of rat-hole miners were used in the rescue operation to save the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel, a National Disaster Management Authority member said on Tuesday.
'Even, nature looks cheerful today. A cool wind has stirred up the leaves and trees. The weather is good. We are hopeful'
Devotees lit 21,000 lamps at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar, November 27, 2023, as they prayed for the 41 Indians trapped in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi on Dev Deepawali.
Aliza, a Class-10 student of the National Institute of Open Schooling, could not appear in her home science exam due to the chaos prevailing after the demolition of the house, her family members claimed.
The supervisor could be heard asking those trapped inside the tunnel to not worry and that they would be evacuated soon.
Apart from that, as part of efforts to provide assurance to 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel and relieve their stress, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has stepped in to provide them with a landline through which they can talk to their families.
'The tunnel was dug up two km and the work was going on smoothly. I could have never imagined such an incident'
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking to prevent a 'mahapanchayat' called by Hindu outfits in Uttarakhand and registration of an FIR against hate speeches allegedly targeting members of a particular community.
It was a highly emotional moment, with those gathered outside shouting slogans and the workers themselves welcomed by everyone present, as these photographs show.
Through this 6-inch alternative lifeline, hot khichdi was sent to the stranded workers for the first time since they were trapped.
'India has gone digital. They talk about the success of India's Chandrayaan mission but they cannot evacuate our people trapped for around a week'
Communal tension has been brewing in Purola and some other towns of Uttarkashi district after two men, one of them Muslim, allegedly tried to abduct a Hindu girl on May 26.
Gabbar Singh Negi's house in the Lalpani area of the town suddenly came to life on Tuesday night as the news of the safe evacuation of 41 workers trapped at Sikyara tunnel reached his kin who had been glued to the TV set waiting the whole day for the good news.
"My family and I continue to spend the night in the open. Some locals are providing us with food and water, etc.," Hassan said on Friday, a day after he refused an offer by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to move him and his family to an EWS flat in Narela.
Three experts from Western Coal Fields, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, camped at the Silkyara tunnel site from November 20.
Anil Bediya, one of the 41 labourers who were rescued from a collapsed Uttarakhand tunnel after 16 days, survived the ordeal by eating muri (puffed rice) and licking water dripping from rocks.
'These kinds of tunnels are not meant for the Himalayas.' 'Development should be good for all people and not where you make a tunnel and 40 people get trapped.'
Drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel to rescue 41 men trapped inside for 12 days was halted again on Friday, officials said.
'We humans may not have not created natural disasters, but we have definitely amplified their impact.'
Soon after being rescued, Vishal, a resident of Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, met his family members outside the tunnel and was then taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
A local traders' body has forced Muslim shopkeepers in Dharchula to down shutters and given a call for their ouster from the Uttarakhand town after two minor girls were allegedly lured by a couple of men from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.
All tunnels being constructed in Uttarakhand will be reviewed, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Thursday after drilling began at the Silkyara tunnel with a heavy duty machine to rescue 40 labourers trapped there for four days.
A high performance drilling machine was brought in Uttarkashi from Indore on Saturday to pierce through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel on the Char Dham route and was being assembled before it is deployed to resume drilling, officials at the site said.
After 16 days of intense efforts by multiple agencies, all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi have safely been evacuated on Tuesday evening.
According to the victim's complaint to the police, some people belonging to the upper caste assaulted him at the temple, tied him up and singed him with burning sticks throughout the night.
An ill woman being carried by her family members for 12 km to reach the nearest medical facility in the Badiyar area of Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, July 19, 2022.
Manual horizontal digging will start soon in addition to the ongoing top-down drilling to rescue the 41 trapped workers in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, the NDMA said on Monday.
The police staged a flag march in the main market area of the town and appealed to people to maintain peace.
Markets in Uttarakhand's Purola and neighbouring towns remained closed amid heavy police deployment on Thursday in protest against the imposition of prohibitory orders to prevent a 'mahapanchayat' that was scheduled to be held there over alleged incidents of 'love jihad'.
'I could not see my husband in the video...Whenever I get to see my husband, then only I can say he is safe'
It has been a week since 41 labourers got trapped inside an under-construction tunnel at Silkyara in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district after parts of the structure collapsed following a landslide last Sunday.
As the last ambulance carrying one of the 41 labourers rescued from an under-construction road tunnel left the site in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district for a community health centre on Tuesday evening, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union minister V K Singh went straight to a temple of local deity Baba Baukhnag to express their gratitude for his blessings.
The advisory, issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, also told private television channels to be sensitive in their reportage, especially while putting out headlines and videos of the rescue operations, considering the psychological status of family members of the trapped workers.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said none of the 41 labourers rescued from an under-construction road tunnel in Uttarkashi district was in a critical condition.
The worker said there was a natural source of water in the tunnel but they had no clothes to change.
He further said that the "focus is on horizontal drilling" as rock formation has created challenges for vertical drilling.
The team consisted of trainee mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and their trainers.
The 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel for the last 11 days are likely to be rescued in the next few hours or by tomorrow, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said on Thursday evening.
The chief minister briefed the prime minister about the rescue operations in detail and said all the trapped workers are safe with oxygen, nutritious food and water being constantly supplied to them.
Inching closer to their goal, rescuers have inserted wide pipes up to 45 metres through the rubble and will have to drill another around 12 metres to reach the 41 workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel in Silkyara for 10 days, officials said Wednesday afternoon.
