By Our Staff Reporter
Nainital, 20 Nov: Hearing a PIL filed today seeking early rescue of the 41 workers trapped in Silkyara tunnel in district Uttarkashi, the Nainital High Court has sought response of the government within next 48 hours.
Hearing the PIL filed in this respect, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice, Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit has asked the state government to submit its reply within 48 hours. The next hearing of the case has been fixed on 22 November. The court has also issued notice to the Ministry of Disaster Management, Secretary Public Works Department, Central Government, National Highway Authority and asked them too to submit their responses also in this respect. The PIL has been filed by Samadhan NGO located at Krishna Vihar in Dehradun. The PIL states that 41 workers are trapped inside the tunnel in Silkyara Tunnel of Uttarkashi since last 12 November, but the government has failed to rescue them so far.
The PIL further claims that the government and the executive agencies are playing with the lives of the people trapped in the tunnel. Every day, new plans are being invented to evict the workers and because of this, the lives of the trapped workers are in danger. The PIL also demands registration of a criminal case of negligence against the government and the agencies. The petition also demands an investigation by the SIT into the whole matter. It has further been demanded through the PIL that before the work starts inside the tunnel, essential items like rescue pipes, generators, machines and other items should be provided to the workers. It claims that during the construction of the tunnel, geological survey and inspection of this area was not done properly, due to which the lives of these workers have been endangered.
