The phrase “all of government” response doesn’t do justice to the intensive and painstaking 17-day rescue operation mounted in the aftermath of the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel collapse in Uttarkashi. Even in a country teeming with tales of hope and despair, it is rare to find the solidarity and cooperation, empathy and resilience, around a single event as was visible in this one. It took seven government agencies — including and especially the Prime Minister’s Office, ONGC and National Disaster Management Authority — assistance from the armed forces, and the efforts of many others to successfully extract the 41 migrant workers from four states after digging through 57 metres of debris. In the end, it was miners with experience of working in the tiniest crevasses, closer to the men inside the tunnel than the mighty machines that preceded them, who finally made the mission a success.
The Silkyara-Barkot tunnel is part of the ambitious Char Dham Pariyojana, under which several highways and roads are being constructed and widened in Uttarakhand. The tunnel collapsed after a landslide early morning on November 12, and the rescue efforts began soon after. Amid precarious debris and rubble, the operation had to keep a host of risks in mind while ensuring the safety of the trapped men as well as that of the rescue workers. By day 10, there were five viable options, including using the US-made Auger machine to dig horizontally from the Silkyara end of the tunnel. This was thought to be the quickest way to reach the workers. Unfortunately, the joint of the machine broke while drilling, and a practice colloquially known as “rat-hole mining” was used to clear the last few metres. This involves miners going down narrow pits — barely large enough for one person — to extract coal. An operation as delicate as this one, with so many lives at stake, needed to be meticulous. In the aftermath, the national attention that the tunnel collapse and the resilience of the trapped workers have received is an opportunity to address structural issues.
The Char Dham Project involves large-scale construction in one of the most ecologically fragile zones in the world — the Himalayas. While connectivity and development are essential to the region, how these projects are being undertaken may require a closer look, especially in terms of increasing the focus on sustainability and environmental clearances. This may require a different, more creative design of development for the region and beyond. The rescue operation can also serve as a blueprint for future natural disasters and accidents. Finally, the Uttarkashi tunnel collapse has once again turned the spotlight on the invisible migrant workers – the last time they drew the nation’s attention was because of their travails during the lockdown in the pandemic. From those trapped to those who rescued them, are arduous stories of being away from home, amid unsafe working conditions and a precarity of existence that mostly goes unrecognised. This larger predicament, too, deserves to be addressed by an all-of-government approach.
