Uttarakhand: At site, top PMO official assures safe evacuation

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, November 27

Top officials of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Principal Secretary PK Mishra on Monday conducted an on-spot review of the rescue efforts at the partially collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi and assured trapped workers and their families of early and safe extrication. The workers have been stuck inside an under-construction highway tunnel since the early hours of November 12 just when they were about to wind up their night shift and return home for Diwali.

Mishra, accompanied by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, took a presentation on the status of rescue efforts, visiting vertical and horizontal drilling sites and assessing the geological challenges at hand.

They also visited the 170-metre perpendicular tunnel work being done by Rail Vikas Nigam.

Mishra took stock of manual efforts that were made to remove broken parts of the auger drilling machine and spoke to workers involved in the task while calling for utmost safety precautions for the rescue teams involved.

The Principal Secretary to the PM spoke to Gabbar Singh, one of the trapped workers inside the tunnel, and boosted his and his companions’ morale with medical experts pointing to the need to keep the spirits of workers high.

Mishra also met anguished families of the workers, assuring them of multi-pronged efforts to take out the workers safely.

Mishra passed special instructions to the authorities to ensure high-quality food for those trapped and physical and psychological healthcare to help them sustain in the highly challenging situation.