Everyone in the country exhaled a sigh of relief on the night of 28 November which marked the safe extraction of all forty-one workers trapped inside the Uttarkashi’s under-construction Silkyara tunnel since 12 November. The workers were rescued after a huge multi-pronged operation run by multiple agencies after days of technical issues, anxiety, uncertainty, despair and hope.
The unprecedented 17-day-long rescue operation involved multiple agencies and professionals from both domestic and international locations and eventually proved to be a great success. The entire apparatus was employed by the union and state governments to guarantee the safe and secure return of the labourers. The colossal effort was exceptional both in its scope and ambition.
Meanwhile, many individuals graciously joined the large-scale operation and saw it through to the very conclusion. Delhi-based Nizamuddin resident Surendra Rajput was one of them, according to a report in Jagran. Notably, he already participated in a previous rescue operation in 2006 in Haryana, albeit one that was far less in scale. He built a tunnel to rescue a young boy named Prince who fell into a borewell there.
This time, Surendra Rajput prepared a pulley trolley in order to remove debris from the rescue pipe in the collapsed tunnel which turned out to be crucial in the last phase of the operation when it was time to evacuate the workers. He arrived at the scene on 18 November and pleaded with the rescue agencies to join the mission and assist in the rescue operation. He also informed the administrative officers of his work experience in an attempt to convince them.
When the officials looked into the details he shared, they discovered that the man had worked tirelessly to save a child known as Prince who fell into a borewell in a village between Kurukshetra and Ambala in Haryana in the year 2006. He dug a 10-foot tunnel in order to link two wells that were 57 meters deep which led to the removal of the boy from the hole and saved his life.
Surendra Rajput was awarded by the Haryana government for his dedication and effort at that time. Hence, the officials decided to include him and receive his help in the operation because of his credentials and background. According to him, he created a 1.25 m long and 600 mm broad pulley trolley for a group of rat miners who were drilling with their hands. This had four bearings installed. The rubble from the tunnel was removed via the pipe following manual drilling through this trolley. Around one quintal of debris was taken out from the trolley at a time.
It is notable that the 2006 incident where six-year-old Prince fell into an open borewell in Kurukshetra was one of the most prominent such incidents which was widely covered in media. After the kid fell into a 60-feet deep open borewell of 16 inches in diameter, a massive rescue operation was launched which was covered live by news channels. After the attempts to pull out the child failed, the rescue teams comprising Army personnel found another borewell nearby with a similar depth. The two borewells were connected using steel pipes, and Prince was rescued after 50 hours of struggle.
Workers rescued after 17 days
The 41 workers were eventually rescued on 28 November from the under-construction tunnel. A group of medical professionals entered the tunnel just before the workers were successfully evacuated to assess their vital signs.
Union Minister General VK Singh (Retd), Bhaskar Khulbe, OSD to Uttarakhand administration and a former advisor to PMO, and a former Engineer-in-Chief and BRO DG Lieutenant General Harpal Singh (Retd) also went into the tunnel in order to maintain the spirits of the trapped workers and guarantee that the rescue operation is in its last stages. They had also brought 41 garlands to greet the latter. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also met the rescued workers as they emerged out of the tunnel.
The rescue operation had been ongoing since 12th November when the debris fell in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel trapping 41 labourers inside the under-construction structure. The officials had installed pipes to give food, water, medicine, and enough oxygen to the trapped personnel in order to ensure the success of the rescue mission.
They also sent communication devices and maintained regular communications with the trapped workers to keep their morale high. Their relatives were permitted to speak with their stranded relative and provide information about the rescue operations on a regular basis.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami were regularly updated on the operation’s status and information.CM Dhami would frequently visit the scene and even converse with the trapped workers over the phone to inquire about their well-being. PM Modi also spoke with them over call only a few hours after they were safely evacuated.
