"Eagerly waiting for their safe, healthy return": Assam CM taking regular updates on 2 workers trapped in Uttarkashi tunnel

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been monitoring and taking regular updates on the well-being of two workers from the Kokrajhar district, who are among the 41 trapped inside an Uttarkashi tunnel, a portion of which collapsed on November 12, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) informed through an official release on Tuesday.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been monitoring and taking regular updates on the well-being of two workers from the Kokrajhar district, who are among the 41 trapped inside an Uttarkashi tunnel, a portion of which collapsed on November 12, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) informed through an official release on Tuesday. "Two persons from District Kokrajhar, Assam have been trapped in the Uttarakhand Tunnel. For the last 16 days, HCM Dr @himantabiswa has been constantly monitoring the well-being of the workers and the families in Assam," read a post on the official handle of the Assam CMO on Tuesday.

"Principal Secretary to HCM through DC (Kokrajhar) have been in regular contact with the respective families and authorities in Uttarakhand. We are eagerly awaiting their safe and healthy return," it added. Meanwhile, the ongoing rescue work at the under-construction Silkyara tunnel of Uttarakhand continued for its sixteenth day on Tuesday, with the crucial work of laying a pipeline inside the tunnel to enable the extraction of the trapped workers completed and a temporary medical facility opened inside the tunnel for the safe-keeping till the eventual rescue.

According to sources, eight beds have been arranged by the state Health department while a team of doctors and experts are on standby to mobilise an emergency medical response should the need arise. All arrangements have been made to provide requisite medical attention to the distressed labourers once they are evacuated, officials informed on Tuesday.

A Chinook helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has also been kept ready at the Chinyalisaur airstrip to airlift the workers after their rescue from the Silkyara tunnel, the officials informed further. Earlier, on Tuesday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami informed that the laying of the pipeline inside the tunnel has been completed. The task, which ran into several hurdles, was completed 16 days after the workers were trapped inside the tunnel on November 12.

"With the blessing of Baba Baukh Nag Ji, prayers of crores of countrymen and the tireless work of the rescue teams engaged in the rescue operation, the work of laying pipes in the tunnel to take out the workers has been completed. Soon all the labourers will be taken out," CM Dhami posted from his official X handle on Tuesday. Akshet Katyaal, managing director of Accurate Concrete Solutions, said there are three to four phases of the rescue operation.

"The pipe has been pushed inside very cautiously without any hurdle and a breakthrough has been achieved. The work to bring out the labourers has started. There are at least 3-4 phases in the rescue operation. The NDRF teams have entered the tunnel and the labourers will be brought out once a ramp is made for this purpose," he said. A portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12, with the debris falling in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel, trapping 41 labourers inside the under-construction structure. (ANI)

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