Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 20: The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), one of the several government agencies working on the mega operation to rescue the 41 workers trapped in the collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand, is claimed to have achieved a major breakthrough having at least installed a six-inch pipe into the debris to supply solid food and other requirements and establishing better communication with the hapless workers.
Unable to rescue 41 labourers trapped inside a tunnel for more than a week, the agencies involved in the operation are working on an alternative plan involving tunnelling sideways and boring from the top to build a vertical shaft.
“We have achieved our first breakthrough, for which we had been trying for the last nine days and was our first priority. A 6-inch pipe has been installed and they (trapped workers) can hear us through it. We will now provide them with food and medical supplies through that pipe,” Anshu Khalkho, director, NHIDCL, said on Monday. He said the rescue workers were able to communicate with the trapped workers better through the newly installed pipe.
The new pipe will allow rescuers to deliver a wider variety of food and medicine to the trapped people. Earlier, only dry fruits could be sent in. With the new pipe, the authorities will be able to provide more substantial meals.
Uttarkashi district magistrate Abhishek Ruhela on Monday said the rescue operation was in the advanced stage. “It is in the advanced stage, official information will be out soon…The most important thing is to make an approach road through the Border Road Organisation and we are hoping that it finishes by tonight or early morning tomorrow from this end and the action will begin soon,” he said.
Mr Khalkho said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has pressed two robots into the operation. “DRDO has sent 2 robots weighing 20 kg and 50 kg respectively. The robots move on the ground. The loose ground there has raised apprehensions whether the robots will be able to move there or not. Other machinery will be there within a day or two,” he added. He said the BRO was constructing roads wherever necessary.
“BRO is constructing roads wherever necessary on both the ends. Roads are ready on both sides, now we are waiting for the machinery. The machines are very heavy, they cannot be airlifted,” he added.
The authorities had been sending inside the tunnel dry-fruits, water and medicines via four-inch pipes. The bigger-diameter pipe will help them send in solid food. DRDO’s Robotics Machine Team reached the site on Monday morning. The agencies are also attempting to drill into the tunnel perpendicularly. In this portion of the tunnel, electricity and water are available.
The Centre has devised a five-option action plan that involve drilling from three sides to access the trapped workers. Five different agencies have been tasked with carrying out each operation. Two tunnels will be drilled horizontally from the right and left sides of the main tunnel, while a vertical shaft will be drilled from the top of the tunnel. The workers have been trapped in a 400-metre buffer zone of the unfinished main tunnel since November 12.
The big challenge was finding space for the multiple drilling machines needed in the hilly terrain and the time-consuming job of building motorable roads, which has started. Currently, a single machine is operating in the area, clearing the way for a heavier machine. Workers are also building a ramp from the main tunnel’s entrance to its roof to transport the heavier machine.
An international tunnelling expert team arrived at the spot on Monday. International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association president Arnold Dix is overseeing the operations.
Over the last week, several plans to cut through the 40-meter rock wall fell through. It had also backfired twice, bringing down more rocks and rubble from the un-plastered roof, extending the depth of the rock wall from around 40 to over 70 meters. The last rock-fall took place on Friday, when attempts were made to use an American Auger drill flown in from Delhi. The drill machine that was being used before that, had broken down and work had to be stopped till the new one reached. Initially the plan was to cut through the rock wall and insert a pipe with a width of around 3 feet through which the people could be evacuated, but after repeated rockfalls, the authorities decided on different approaches to rescue the trapped workers.
A portion of the 4.5-km tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway, part of the Central government’s ambitious Char Dham project, collapsed on November 12, entrapping 41 workers inside.