Central trade unions call for probe into tunnel collapse

The platform of ten Central Trade Unions (CTUs) has expressed its anguish at the failure of the authorities to take responsibility for the Silkyara Tunnel collapse in Uttarkashi. In a joint statement here on Wednesday, the CTUs said accidents at work places expose the weaknesses of laws in regard to work place safety of workers and also bring to light the violations of existing laws. The CTUs urged the Centre to withdraw the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions about health and safety. 41 workers have been trapped in the tunnel for the last ten days and rescue operations are underway in Uttarkashi.

The CTUs alleged that the Centre sent a team very late to monitor the rescue operations. “The other workers are telling that the escape routes/tunnels, which are compulsory to meet such emergency situations in construction of long tunnels, were not even planned,” the joint statement added. “There should be a thorough probe into the laxity at any level, right from tendering to various other stages of work of the tunnel,” they demanded and asked the Centre to convene the Indian Labour Conference at the earliest to address the workers concerns on codification of laws.

The Construction Workers Federation of India (CWFI) said in a separate statement that the disastrous accident is a result of the inhuman profit hungry ‘development’ models and policies pursued by the “neo-liberal” BJP governments. “The law enforcement mechanism has failed in ensuring that the safety directions are followed. Construction sector in India is one of the biggest contributors of workplace accidents world over,” said CWFI general secretary U. P. Joseph. He said a delegation of the trade union leaders were not allowed to meet the other workers at the construction site. “The families of the workers must be given all help necessary,” Mr. Joseph added.

Hopes and despair as rescue efforts continue at Uttarkashi | In pictures

An under construction tunnel collapsed in the district of Uttarkashi on November 20, 2023, trapping 41 workers inside. In an effort to bring the trapped labourers, many methods are being employed.

Workers work inside the tunnel after a portion of the tunnel collapsed. The tunnel is being constructed under the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), on November 19, 2023.

A high-performance drilling machine is being brought for the rescue operation. In total, five different approaches to the workers are being explored simultaneously, on top of the auger machine at the southern entrance. Heavy machinery and concrete blocks were being trucked into the site throughout the day, on November 19, 2023.

New machines near the tunnel. The first machine of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) for the construction of the vertical rescue tunnel has already reached the site and operations are being commenced post completion of access road by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). Movement of two other machines for the vertical tunnel construction started from Gujarat and Odisha by road, on November 20, 2023.

Workers clean extra food bottles that are brought back from the tunnel under rescue operation. The workers are safe and have asked for food, which is being sent to them, the Silkyara police control room said, adding that communication has been established on walkie-talkies. Food packets have been supplied with the help of compressors, it said, on November 20, 2023.

Pipes, machines and slabs are being brought for the rescue operation. In a first major breakthrough in nine days, agencies working round the clock to rescue the 41 workers trapped in an under-construction tunnel at Silkyara in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand have managed to install a six-inch pipe into the 53-metre-long debris on November 20, 2023.

Prayers are being offered by different pandits next to the tunnel. The government is sending multivitamins, antidepressants and dry fruits to 41 workers trapped for the past seven days in an under-construction tunnel that collapsed in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, Road, Transport and Highways Secretary Anurag Jain said, on November 20, 2023.

Arnold Dix, President , International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, from Australia, inspects the vertical drilling on top of the mountain face below which the under construction tunnel collapsed, on November 20, 2023.

Wife (Rajni) of a trapped worker (Birender Kisku) from Banka, Bihar, gestures near a temporary police help desk near the Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse site. 41 workers have been trapped since Nov. 12 morning at the partially collapsed Silkyara tunnel.

Workers stand on top of the mountain face below which the under construction tunnel collapsed, on November 20, 2023.

Workers make road for the vertical drilling on top of the mountain face. Rescue workers at the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi started exploring other ways to reach workers, including from the top of the mountain face through which the tunnel is being constructed, officials announced on Saturday. The longer 170 metre route from the top, running simultaneously with other approaches, may take far longer to bore through than the approximately 60 metres of rubble at the southern entrance, on November 18, 2023.

NDRF at the spot from where vertical drilling will start on the mountain face. About 160 personnel of agencies such as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are trying to rescue the trapped labourers, on November 17, 2023.

A help desk has been installed near the tunnel collapse site, to help the families of the workers trapped inside the under-construction tunnel, on November 19, 2023.

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