Rescued worker from Bihar says CM did not send officials at tunnel site

A Bihar resident who was among the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel complained on Wednesday that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not send his officials to the tunnel site to enquire about the workers from the state nor did he contact his relatives back home during their 16-day ordeal.

The worker complained of this when Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met him at the community health centre in Chinyalisaur and asked how he was doing.

"All other state governments sent their officials to the tunnel to enquire about the well-being of the trapped workers from their respective states. But our chief minister Nitish Kumar did not send anyone nor did he contact our relatives back home to say a word of sympathy. I do not know what mistake we committed," the worker told Dhami.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Uttarakhand chief minister for the efforts made by various agencies under his leadership to secure their safe exit from the tunnel.

Dhami had set up a camp office at Matli in Uttarkashi to monitor the rescue operations. Jharkhand and Odisha governments had sent their officials to the site.

There were five workers from Bihar among the 41 trapped in a part of the tunnel since its partial collapse on November 12.

The 41 workers were rescued Tuesday evening.