Silkyara Tunnel Rescue Mission : Gung-Ho But Alarm Bells Ringing As Well

Picture : ANI / X

There was celebration with a big sigh of relief not only at Silkyara tunnel but pan-India. Everyone was praying for the 41 workers trapped inside the tunnel for 17 days. The situation, which gradually took a grim turn when many efforts to evacuate the workers were falling apart, until the ‘Rat hole’ method, banned few years back, was the last hope. And all the workers were taken out safely in coordination with the Army who managed to manually dig through 55 metres of debris horizontally. Just another two metres was left to reach the trapped workers then.

Around 7.30 p.m., the State government made the announcement that the first worker was being brought out of the tunnel. Within a little over an hour, all 41 men were rescued. “Patience and hard work won,” said the Chief minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami on social media as the rescue operation was successfully completed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the workers over phone and enquired about their well-being, officials said and took to X to thank the rescue teams for their grit and perseverance. “The success of the rescue operation of our brothers in Uttarkashi is making everyone emotional. I want to say to the friends who were trapped in the tunnel that your courage and patience is inspiring everyone. I wish you all well and good health.” . He also appreciated the patience and courage of the families of the workers.

“I also salute the spirit of all the people associated with this rescue operation. Their bravery and determination has given new life to our labour brothers. Everyone involved in this mission has set an amazing example of humanity and teamwork,” the PM said.

Congratulating the teams and experts involved in the operation, President Droupadi Murmu posted on X, “The nation salutes the workers’ resilience and remains grateful to them for building critical infrastructure even at great personal risk.”

On the other side, the infrastructure development trajectory in the Himalayas comes under serious clouds. The current model of widening roads, rampant construction of hydropower projects, and the unbridled impetus for tourism be a sustainable way of development? The Char Dham Project, all-weather roads, being constructed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in Uttarakhand, linking the four religious pilgrimages of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath, has brought into focus two major issues in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).

The foremost one is about the development model itself and, in concrete terms, what should be the carrying capacity of the IHR. Also important are the processes in which environment clearances were sought, undermining safety protocols, and a new form of architecture that should be built to construct and monitor infrastructure projects, if at all they are desired, in the region. The irony is that the flash floods of 2013 in Uttarakhand are suggested as the reason for the construction of the Char Dham Yatra. In a way, a tragedy becomes a source for many tragedies in the offing.

In 2023, the Himalayan region has borne witness to an onslaught of disasters, from the sinking of Joshimath in Uttarakhand to floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh, a glacial lake outburst in Sikkim, and the recent tunnel collapse near Barkot in Uttarakhand. While these events may seem disparate, they actually form a connected narrative revealing the repercussions of haphazard development in the region, particularly in Uttarakhand. The prevailing development model of the Himalaya, spanning from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, poses a significant threat to the ecosystem of the mountains.