The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) on Monday succeeded in pushing through a six-inch pipeline to send food and other essentials to the 41 workers trapped at the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, since November 12, a government statement said.Earlier, the trapped workers were being sent supplies through a four-inch pipeline, which only allowed the passage of dry ration.
The wider pipeline will enable rescuers to send a wider variety of food items, medicines and other utilities to the workers. Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) is working on another vertical pipeline for the supply of essential items.The 4.52-km two-directional Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel is part of the ambitious Char Dham project of the government. It is being built to provide all-weather connectivity to Yamunotri, one of the four dhams of Chardham.
NHIDCL, fully-owned by the ministry of road transport and highways and responsible for the development and maintenance of highways in states which share the border with other countries, is implementing the project.A portion of the under-construction tunnel in Silkyara village in Uttarkashi had collapsed due to a landslide on November 12, trapping the 41 workers. Six government agencies with expertise in drilling and excavation operations, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, RVNL, NHIDCL and Tehri Hydro Development Corporation, have been assigned responsibilities for the rescue.
Drones and robots from DRDO have been brought to the site to look into the possibility of other escape routes for the trapped workers.The first machine for construction of a vertical rescue shaft – possibly around 80-metre deep – by drilling from near the hilltop has also reached the tunnel. A road to the hilltop has been laid, and ONGC is arranging for more equipment, the government statement said.Also, work has begun on drilling from the other side, the Barkot-end, of the tunnel, it added.
The pipeline development comes on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to take stock of the rescue operations. According to a statement, the PM said it was necessary to keep up the morale of the trapped workers.
With PTI inputs