By Arun Pratap Singh
Uttarkashi, 23 Nov: The rescue operation in progress to rescue 41 workers from the under construction 4.5 km long tunnel in Silkyara on the Yamunotri Highway in district Uttarkashi is in its final stage. The operation has been delayed to fresh hurdles coming in the way of the drilling progress. It is now being hoped that the operation may get over around midnight, today. This morning, after a halt of several hours when the drilling had to be stopped due to some iron structure coming in the way of the drill machine, the drilling had restarted. However, soon after pushing the pipes further inside to the extent of 1.8 metres, the American Auger Drill Machine again encountered a fresh hurdle, another metal structure due to which the drilling had to be halted. During the night, it took more than four hours to cut and remove the structure which had surfaced after 45 metres of drilling. Due to this, the operation was delayed. The drill bit of the machine had also reportedly broken and had to be replaced. For this, a team of expert engineers had accompanied Union Minister of State General VK Singh (Retd) who arrived early morning at the site and remained there till late afternoon. Hours after the repair of the machine, the drilling was again started in the afternoon, when a fresh hurdle was encountered only after 1.8 metres of fresh drilling. As this news was filed this evening, the auger machine had also moved from its set platform due to pressure of pushing a long pipe. This necessitated the strengthening of the base. Meanwhile, it was also reported that the new metal obstacle has also been removed and there is no hurdle in before the machine at present. About 10 to 12 metres of further drilling is required to reach the trapped workers and rescue them.
This evening, a press briefing was also held at the temporary media centre set up in Silkyara at which Secretary, Uttarakhand, Dr Neeraj Khairwal informed media that before the midnight halt due to the hurdle, drilling up to a total distance of 45 metres had been completed but further drilling was hampered due to iron bars. Late night, the team of workers comprising Pradeep Yadav and Balwinder, at great risk to themselves, crawled inside the pipes to get rid of the iron bar hurdles with the help of gas cutters.
Khairwal said that further work is also being done with utmost caution. After installing the auger machine again and starting drilling, additional drilling of 1.8 metres has been done. Special precautions are being taken for further drilling. He said that the top priority is to do fast drilling while taking utmost care.
During the briefing, MD (NHIDCL) Mahmood Ahmed, District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela, DG, Information, Banshidhar Tiwari, Superintendent of Police Arpan Yaduvanshi were also present.
Meanwhile, in Delhi today, National Disaster Management Authority member Lt General Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd) conceded that the rescue operation has turned out to be a hugely challenging task and that, while there is pressure to complete the rescue operation at the earliest, this puts the trapped workers as well as the rescue teams in some danger. There is a strong need to be very careful about the safety of the trapped workers and the rescue teams. He said that there is still 10 to 12 metres of drilling left to rescue the workers trapped in the tunnel, for which two pipes of six metres, each, are to be laid. The auger machine will start operating again soon.
