Page 29 - Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: 8-metre progress made through vertical drilling

Two locations were identified for the vertical drilling, and both are on the Silkyara side of the high-altitude under-construction tunnel, a portion of which caved in on November 12

Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: IAF flies in 'critical DRDO equipment' to site

Earlier, on Sunday, a plasma-cutting machine was flown to the tunnel site from Hyderabad to cut through the Auger drilling machine and its stuck blades from inside the tunnel

Uttarkashi tunnel collapse: Protection umbrella being laid for rescue team

A BSNL official, said they are in the process of sending a small landline phone to the stranded workers through the pipe. "Through this, they will be able to talk directly to their families," he said

Tunnel collapse: 86-metre vertical drilling soon as horizontal efforts fail

The operation to rescue 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel may take a long time with the auger machine for horizontal drilling facing repeated hurdles and rescuers are now preparing to start vertical drilling, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Saturday. The vertical drilling will start in the next 24 to 36 hours, NDMA member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said, adding the front part of the auger machine was broken and efforts are being made to retrieve those from the tunnel. "We need to have patience as it is a dangerous operation ... 'is operation main lamba samay lag sakta hai' (this operation may take a long time)," he said, without mentioning any timeline for the completion of rescue operations. Drilling at the collapsed portion of the Silkyara tunnel to rescue the trapped men halted again on Friday night after the auger machine engaged in drilling through the rubble to prepare an escape passage faced a hurdle, apparently a metal object, and ...

U'khand tunnel mishap: 41 trapped grow impatient amid hurdles in rescue op

"He looked very stressed and impatient and kept asking us when would they come out," Sunita, whose brother-in-law Virender is among the 41 workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel in Silkyara here for the past 13 days, said on Saturday. Virender's plea summed up the mood among the trapped workers and their relatives who have gathered here. As the rescue effort hits one after another hurdles, hope is gradually giving way to impatience and disappointment. After her interaction with Virender this morning, Sunita said, "Today we talked about 10 minutes.... He did not eat this morning. He told me that he does not want to eat.... We are very anxious now. He looked very stressed and impatient. He kept asking us when would they come out." Hailing from Bihar, she has come to the site along with her husband Devender and Virender's wife. Virender's elder brother Devender said the authorities are giving them hope everyday but are yet to achieve success. "For the last two days we are being

U'khand CM inspects tunnel site, Arnold Dix sheds hope amid delay in rescue

Speaking to the media, Dhami said on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very sensitive towards the workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel

Setback to tunnel rescue work, expert says auger machine has busted

The auger machine engaged for drilling through the rubble at the Silkyara tunnel to rescue 41 trapped workers has busted, international tunnelling expert Arnold Dix said on Saturday. "Augering is finished...the auger is broken, destructed," he told reporters in Silkyara. The auger machine was facing repeated obstructions in the rubble in the past few days. When asked about other options such as vertical or manual drilling, he said all options are being explored. "Every door we are opening has its advantages and disadvantages. What we have to ensure is the safety of the rescuers as well as those who are trapped," he said. The multi-agency rescue effort began November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed following a landslide, trapping the 41 workers inside.

U'khand tunnel rescue: BRO to transport machines for vertical drilling

"Soon, a joint meeting of all the departments concerned will be held and decision will be taken on when work on the vertical drilling will commence," said the official

U'khand tunnel rescue: Manual drilling will start once Auger removed

The ongoing operation to rescue workers, who were trapped after a portion of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, entered its 14th day on Saturday

U'khand tunnel rescue: Option of manual drilling being considered

With the auger machine encountering hurdles in the rubble time and again, rescuers are considering switching over to manual drilling at the Silkyara tunnel where 41 labourers have been trapped for the past 13 days, officials said on Saturday. Drilling at the collapsed portion of the tunnel to rescue the trapped men was halted again on Friday night, in yet another setback to the multi-agency effort. An official said the auger drilling machine faced a hurdle, apparently a metal object, a little after drilling resumed Friday, a day after officials had put the operation on hold following technical problems. With one hurdle or the other not letting the auger machine drill further and lay steel pipes through the rubble to prepare an escape route for the trapped workers, the option of manual drilling is being considered, an official said. However, he said, manual drilling takes longer time. The multi-agency rescue effort began November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel o

Day 12: Machine damage stalls rescue operations at Uttarkashi tunnel

"The auger will move extremely carefully," Hasnain said

SJVN's Naitwar Mori hydro project's first unit starts commercial operations

The first unit of SJVN's 60 MW Naitwar Mori Hydro Electric Project (NMHEP) in Uttarakhand has started commercial operations. The first unit of 30 MW capacity achieved the Commercial Operation Date (COD) today, the company's CMD Nand Lal Sharma said in a statement on Friday. "The unit has at 60 MW project achieved this COD after going through rigorous testing and successful synchronization with the national grid. With this achievement, the company has now furthered its total generation capacity to 2,122 MW from 2,091.50 MW," he said. It is a run of the river project located on river Tons, a major tributary of river Yamuna in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand with two generating units of 30 MW each. The second unit of the project is also expected to be commissioned within this month. The project will generate 265.5 million units of electricity annually and the power will be evacuated through the 37 kilometres-long 220 KV Transmission Line from Bainol to Snail, constructed by SJVN .

Drilling at Silkyara tunnel on hold for another day, workers await rescue

Drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel to evacuate 41 workers trapped inside for 12 days was yet resume Friday evening, a day after it was put on hold following a snag. Officials said in the afternoon that technical issues have been sorted and the drilling was set to resume in a couple of hours. But till evening there was no announcement that the auger machine had begun drilling through the remaining stretch of about 12 metres. A ground penetrating radar has indicated that there are no metal hurdles up to five metres ahead of the passage drilled so far, Neeraj Khairwal, the state's nodal officer for the multi-agency rescue effort said. Simultaneously, sections of steel pipes were being laid into the drilled passage. Once this process is over, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) men would pull out the trapped workers through this escape chute, one by one. Over the night, officials said, the auger machine's platform was strengthened with quick-settling cement. Workers went o

Drilling to resume shortly: NDMA on Silkyara tunnel rescue operations

Workers to be rescued 'by any means': NDMA officials said on Silkyara tunnel mishap

Snag set right, drilling to resume at Silkyara tunnel, say officials

Rescue workers were set to begin drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel Friday after putting it on hold for several hours, following a snag that delayed the operation to evacuate 41 men trapped inside for 12 days, officials said. Officials, at an afternoon news briefing, said that the technical problem that stalled the drilling on Wednesday had been set right, and the operation would begin in the next couple of hours. The boring would resume after the another section of steel pipes is welded to the chute already pushed through, they said. A ground penetrating radar has indicated that there are no metal hurdles up to five metres ahead of the passage bored through the debris of the tunnel's collapsed portion. There is no technical problem with the auger machine, but the rescue workers needed to strengthen the platform on which it is mounted, the officials said. The machine had drilled up to 48 metres in the rubble to create the escape passage. The steel pipe -- the pathway to ...

U'khand tunnel rescue: NDRF conducts evacuation rehearsal using stretchers

The NDRF on Friday conducted a rehearsal of how it would take its wheeled stretchers through the chute being prepared to rescue the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel. An NDRF personnel went through the passage, pushing a wheeled stretcher tied to a rope at the end of the tunnel and was pulled back up after completing the stretch. A passage has been made using 800 mm diameter steel pipes through the rubble at the tunnel to rescue the workers who have been trapped inside for the past 12 days. An NDRF personnel who went into the passage was lying on the wheeled stretcher facing downwards. There was enough room inside the pipes and he had no difficulty in breathing during the exercise, he said. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has been camping at Matli since Thursday to closely monitor the rescue operations. A temporary camp of the chief minister's office has been set up there to help him perform his daily duties. The drilling and pushing pipes through the rubble has n

Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: Rescue team to start drilling at 11 am today

The rescue team has placed broad pipes up to a depth of 45 metres through the debris

Union Min VK Singh reaches Uttarkashi tunnel site to inspect rescue ops

Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, General (retd) VK Singh, reached the Silkyara tunnel site on Friday to take stock of the ongoing efforts to rescue 41 trapped workers.The workers have now been trapped for 13 days on the opposite end of a portion of the under-construction tunnel, which collapsed on November 12.The rescue operations entered its final phase on Thursday, with officials saying that only a few metres were left to be drilled for the rescuers to reach the trapped workers.However, due to another technical snag in the auger drilling machine, which had been specially requisitioned for cutting through the debris, the rescue operations were briefly halted on Thursday.The rescuers drilled up to 46.8 metres inside the Silkyara tunnel till 10.20 pm on Thursday."Currently, the drilling machine is being repaired and it will take a few more hours to get it going again. Unless fresh problems crop up, the rescue operation should resume after 9 am tomorrow," an .

Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: CM Dhami tracks ops from temporary office camp

The ongoing rescue work entered its 13th day on Friday, with the trapped workers deemed safe and in good spirits

Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: Drilling work on hold at Silkyara tunnel

Pipe laid through the rubble to prepare an escape route for workers trapped at the Silkyara tunnel remained stalled on Friday morning with the platform on which the drilling machine stands being stabilised by shotcreting, an official said. Boring through the rubble was put on hold again Thursday apparently after cracks appeared in the platform on which the drilling machine rests, in a fresh hurdle to the rescue of 41 workers trapped inside for 12 days. The dampener came hours after the operation resumed earlier in the day, following a six-hour delay to cut through an iron girder that came in the way of the auger machine late Wednesday night. This is the third time that the drilling exercise has been halted since the multi-agency rescue mission began on November 12 after a stretch of the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed.