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Puri/Odisha: To extend support for trapped tunnel workers, Padma-awarded artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a sand sculpture in Puri, Odisha, to pray for the safety of the stranded workers inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi. A part of the tunnel was being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway caved in on November 12 morning following a landslide. The 30-metre collapsed section is 270 metres from the mouth of the tunnel from the Silkyara side.
Talking about the sculpture, Pattnaik said, “…Through sand art, we’re praying to Lord Jagannath so that they come out safely as soon as possible…5 of the 41 trapped workers are from Odisha…I appeal to everyone, we all must together for their rescue”
About Rescue Operations in Uttarkashi tunnel
After 10 days of continuous rescue operation, the location was identified for vertical drilling to bring out 41 workers. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is also engaged in the construction of roads near the Silkyara Tunnel site to allow machines to pass through, to carry out rescue operations. It will be safer to do horizontal drilling to rescue the 41 labourers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, a former GSI official said on Tuesday. Tribhuwan Singh Pangti, who retired as the additional director general of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) told .
Earlier, on Tuesday, at the disaster site in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, a video clip captured by an endoscopic camera sent in through a new six-inch wide pipeline brought hope to relatives who are camping there for days. The pipeline was pushed late Monday through 53 metres of debris -– the collapsed stretch of the under-construction tunnel on the Char Dham route.
Warm food supply through 6-inch pipes
In a major breakthrough, workers are now being served hot food items such as veg pulao, matar-paneer, and chapatis for dinner on Tuesday night after officials managed to insert a 57-metre long, 6-inch wide pipe. The 150 packets of food items were supplied through a pipe stuck through the collapsed part of the structure. Speaking to the media, cook Sanjit Rana said that the dinner was prepared under the doctor’s supervision with less oil and spices to make it easily digestible. “We have prepared veg pulao, mattar paneer, and butter chapati for the workers trapped inside. We have packed the food in adequate portions.”
