NHIDCL

Days after the rescue of 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel due to a partial collapse, an official on Friday said that minor to medium-level collapses occur at any tunnel project normally and these are corrected during the construction. A rescue team on Tuesday pulled out all 41 workers trapped due to the collapse of a portion, around 200 metres from the entrance, of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency operation that hovered between hope and despair for almost 17 days. The 4.5 kilometres long Silkyara tunnel project in Uttarakhand, which is part of the central government's strategic 900-km 'Char Dham Yatra All Weather Road' aims to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath in Uttarakhand. "Whenever any tunnel is being built, minor to medium-level collapse of the tunnel is a normal occurrence. We keep correcting it as and when it happens," National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation

The trapped workers were smiling in the video and stable state of mind. The workers were provided with a walkie-talkie through a 6-inch pipeline so that they could communicate with the rescue team

The workers have been trapped for six days, counting Saturday, after a portion of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel caved in on November 12

Work on the much awaited Zojila tunnel will finally commence on Thursday after Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari initiates the first blasting at the 14.15 km long structure

Once up and ready, the 14.15 km stretch will be will be the longest bi-directional road tunnel in Asia

The Zojila project will be constructed in two sections totaling 33 km. The first will be 18.5 km long, the second will be constructed in the shape of a horseshoe of 14.15 km

NHIDCL has been building roads and highways of around 2,000 km in multiple locations of northeast

About Rs 450 crore a kilometre of expenditure is incurred on the construction of a tunnel project