New Delhi, Dec 1 (PTI) Wakeel Hassan, who led the team at the rescue operation of 41 workers at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, stated on Friday that their experience was both physically challenging and emotionally difficult.
Narrating his experience from the rescue operation, Hassan told PTI that they had gathered 12 workers from Delhi and Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh), and directed them to work four to five hours at a stretch.
He said that the team was directed to operate round the clock, without taking a break even for a minute.
"The most challenging task was cutting the cutter head... We were also scared because if mud had fallen on us during the operation, we wouldn't have survived," Hassan told PTI.
The workers got trapped inside the tunnel in Uttarakhand after a portion of it collapsed. They were rescued on Tuesday following 17 days of a multi-agency operation.
The 12-member team of rat-hole mining experts were called for the drilling after an American auger machine came across hurdles while clearing the rubble.
"We heard that Uttarkhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami will provide a reward of Rs 50,000. Until now, we haven't received any response from the prime minister's side, but from our end, we would like to meet him," Hassan said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the rat-hole mining experts from Delhi who participated in the rescue operation, officials said on Friday.
According to officials, some of them are involved in laying sewer lines and pipelines for the Delhi Jal Board.
"Kejriwal met the miners from Delhi. Water Minister Atishi and Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj were also present in the meeting. The miners returned from Uttarakhand on Thursday," the official added.
Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed "rat holes", as each just about fits one person.
"We were called to Uttarakhand for the rescue operation and we are happy that we succeeded in our task. It was an act of service to my nation and I wasn't scared to carry out the work," another rat-hole mining expert who was involved in the rescue operation, Munna Qureshi, told PTI.
At the Silkyara tunnel, 12 experts were called by Trenchless Engineering Services Pvt Ltd and Navayuga Engineers Pvt Ltd to deploy the rat-hole mining technique horizontally in the collapsed part of the main structure.