A day after an under-construction tunnel collapsed in Uttarakhand, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) on Monday said that all coordinated efforts were being made to evacuate the stranded workforce at the earliest and added that communication with trapped workers had been established through walkie-talkies. Also, the rescue work started with a supply of fresh air, oxygen, water, electricity, and small packets of food through available pipes to the trapped portion, the ministry said.
In a statement, MoRTH said that the removal of loose muck continued along with shotcreting, as 21 metre of loose debris was removed. However, a minor fall of debris reduced the excavation to the tune of 14 metres and to push a 900 mm diameter MS Steel Pipe with the help of a hydraulic jack to evacuate the workers trapped inside; the availability of man, material, and machinery was identified and being mobilised by Monday evening along with experts of the irrigation department.
“Excavation with shotcreting for 40 metres of collapse tunnel started. Additional shotcrete machine shifted from RVNL to the work site…After discussion among experts and inspection of behaviour of fallen muck site over the night two actions are being taken,” the ministry’s statement said.
The incident
On Sunday evening, about 40 workers were inside the tunnel doing reprofiling work when the collapse occurred.
All 40 workers, based on the contractor tunnel entry register, were trapped inside.
The project
As part of the Char Dham Mahamarg Pariyojana, the ministry has taken up the construction of the 4.5-km-long two-lane bi-directional tunnel at Silkyara to join the Gangotri and Yamunotri axis under the Radi pass in Uttarakhand and sanctioned for a total project cost of Rs 1,383 crore in March 2018.
The construction of the tunnel will ease the journey for pilgrims as it will provide all-weather connectivity and reduce a 25.6-km snow-affected length of NH-134 (Dharasu-Barkot-Yamunotri road) to 4.5 km resulting in the reduction of travel time to five minutes from 50 minutes at present.
“The work is delayed with present progress of work at 56% and likely to be completed by May 2024. At present heading in about 4,060 m – 90% length is completed and excavation work for 477 m length is going on along with other activities of benching of heading done portion,” the ministry said. Heading is done up to 2,350 m from the Silkyara side and up to 1,710 m from the Barkot side.
Navayuga Engineering Company Limited is undertaking the project and the work commenced in July 2018 with intended completion by July 2022.
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