Silkyara Tunnel collapse: 21 metres drilled through rubble for labourers' rescue
Uttarkashi (PTI): Working overnight with a powerful machine, rescue workers had by Friday morning drilled up to 21 metres through the rubble in Silkyara tunnel, inching closer to the 40 labourers trapped there for five days.
The workers need to drill up to 60 metres to insert 800 mm and 900 mm diameter pipes one after the other -- with the help of a giant drill machine till an escape passage is created for the labourers stuck behind the collapsed portion of the under-construction tunnel, NHIDCL Director Anshu Manish Khalkho said.
The labourers have been trapped since Sunday morning when a part of the tunnel collapsed following a landslide.
"Drilling has been done up to 21 metres so far," the state emergency operation centre's control room in Silkyara said.
The stretch where debris is accumulated begins 270 metres from the mouth of the tunnel at Silkyara side.
Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela said that the trapped workers are safe and being supplied with oxygen, medicines, and food and water through pipes.
Constant communication is being maintained with them to keep up their morale, he said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Vijay unable to prove majority, not invited for CM oath ceremony: Sources
Chennai: Actor-politician Vijay has reportedly not been invited to take oath as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after failing to demonstrate support from the required number of MLAs, sources in Raj Bhavan said.
According to media reports that quoted sources in the office of R.N. Ravi Arlekar, Vijay could not prove the backing of 118 legislators, the majority mark in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Despite last-minute efforts to secure support from the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazagam (AMMK), and an IUML legislator, Vijay reportedly managed support from only 116 MLAs, falling short by two members.
Sources said Vijay failed to submit letters of support from the VCK and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
Later, the IUML issued a statement clarifying that it was not part of the TVK-led alliance.
Meanwhile, AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran is also said to have informed the Governor that his party would support the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) instead.
Earlier in the evening, Vijay had met Governor Arlekar and staked claim to form the government, stating that he enjoyed the support of 118 MLAs.
