Uttarakhand CM Dhami takes stock of tunnel site; Arnold Dix assures safely rescue of trapped workers

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami traveled to Uttarkashi on Saturday in order to assess the status of the ongoing rescue efforts at the Silkyara tunnel.
Dhami, in a media statement on Saturday, stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking daily detailed information regarding the workers’ well-being and that he is very sensitive to the workers who are trapped in the Silkyara tunnel. With optimism, Dhami stated, “We will soon be successful in evacuating the labor brothers safely,” referring to the successful rescue of the trapped workers.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very sensitive towards the workers trapped in Silkyara, Uttarkashi Tunnel. The Prime Minister is taking detailed information every day about the well-being of the workers and the ongoing relief and rescue operations in the tunnel. Central agencies, state administration and teams of international experts are working on all options, we will soon be successful in evacuating the labour brothers safely,” CM Pushkar Singh Dhami posted on X.

There are several ways to free the trapped workers, according to international tunnel expert Arnold Dix, who is assisting with the rescue effort. The 41 men inside the Silkyara tunnel are expected to return home safely, he said on Saturday. In addition, he discussed the Auger machine breakdown and stated that alternative techniques would be employed for rescue operations in the absence of a new auger machine.

“There are multiple ways. It’s not just one way. At the moment, everything is fine. You will not see the augering anymore. Auger’s work is finished. The auger (machine) has broken. It’s irreparable. It is disrupted. No more work from Auger. No more drilling from the Auger. There will not be a new auger,” International Tunnelling Expert Arnold Dix said.

“I said that 41 men are coming home safely and we’re not going to hurt anybody in the process. We’re looking at, as we’ve always been, multiple options. But with each option we’re considering right now, to do that, we evaluate all of the evidence that we have about how the mountain is behaving. Now, the mountain has again resisted the Auger, so we’re rethinking our approach. This is a decision that’s been made by all the experts, including Indian and local experts. The Himalayan experts from India are providing us with all the information we need. I am confident that 41 men are coming home.” added Arnold Dix.

“I’ll just say that I’ve always promised that they’d be home by Christmas. If you remember right from the beginning, I’ve never been. It is a long time, and they’re safe and they’re well, and if we rush, we can cause another problem in there. So we’re taking our time and being very considerate, and that’s what all these meetings are at the moment. Of course, there’ll be an announcement shortly about what we’re going to do,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) team has once again come on standby mode to do vertical drilling.The team of 12 people at SJVN Limited is completely ready to do the drilling as long as they get the order.