Uttarkashi: Efforts to ease the ordeal of the 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand hit a brief snag Monday. A cooked meal of khichdi packed in bottles for the workers could not be delivered to them owing to blockage in the 6-inch pipe they were to be sent through.
However, the blockage — attributed to rocks — had been resolved by Tuesday and cooked meals finally delivered to the workers.
ThePrint saw the wide-mouth plastic bottles that were meant to be delivered Monday being emptied and cleaned near the site, with a worker filmed saying, “The food didn’t go, all of it has returned (khana nahi gaya, vapis aa gaya saara).”
The snag was later acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday by Anshu Manish Khalko, the Director (Admin and Finance) at National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) — which is implementing the tunnel project.
“It was advised to send (khichdi) and daliya, but that wasn’t going inside, because there were some things [blocking] in the pipe. Now, we have completely cleaned the pipe,” he added.
After the successful delivery of meals, the workers expressed their gratitude for the hot meals that were finally provided to them, which included simple yet nourishing dishes.
Before the cooked meal could finally be delivered Tuesday evening, the workers were sent oranges, bananas, and some medicines, he said.
The 6-inch pipe — 53 metres in length — shoved through the debris helped rescue personnel at the site establish audio-visual contact with the 41 workers Tuesday, 10 days after they got stuck. A large-scale operation is currently under way to bring the workers out safely.
Meanwhile, work to make a horizontal ‘escape passage’ by inserting large-diameter steel pipes with the help of an American auger machine started again Tuesday after three days.
Work was stopped Friday afternoon after the machine broke down.
This report has been updated with official confirmation regarding the blockage
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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