Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday reviewed the ongoing relief and rescue operations in the tunnel under construction in Silkyara of Uttarkashi.
As rescue personnel raced against time to reach the workers trapped inside an under-construction tunnel, a portion of which caved in earlier, heavy auger drilling machines reached Chinyalisaur helipad in Uttarkashi to aid the ongoing rescue operation.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami participated in a public meeting organized by Pravasi Uttarakhandi Samaj in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Wednesday.
Uttarakhand State has received in-principle approval for the control of Ganga river water pollution under the Namami Gange Project, costing approximately Rs 135 crore on Tuesday.
The experts included in the committee constituted by the government under the chairmanship of the Director, Uttarakhand Landslide Mitigation and Management Center to study and investigate the causes of collapse in Silkyara Tunnel have inspected the site and started the investigation.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday reviewed the status of relief and rescue operations with senior officials at his residence to save 40 people trapped in Silkyara tunnel located on Uttarkashi-Yamnotri road.
According to authorities, a platform is being prepared for an auger machine to drill horizontally and insert large diameter MS pipes in between the debris so that the trapped workers can be taken out throught the metal pipes.
However, talking about the information about the relief and rescue operations, the Chief Minister said that various state and central agencies are engaged in relief and rescue operations with mutual coordination and promptness.
During the inspection, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed the officials to speed up the relief and rescue work. He said that it is the top priority of the government to quickly rescue the labourers trapped in the tunnel, for which every possible effort is being made.
After an underground tunnel collapsed in Uttarkashi in which 40 people are feared being trapped, the report said that on November 10, re-profiling and primary lining works in the tunnel were safely completed.
After inspecting the tunnel Yamunotri National Highway site where a section of the under-construction tunnel near Silkyara collapsed, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the experts are working on multiple plans to evacuate people.