Coordinated efforts are being made to rescue the 40 workers trapped inside a tunnel in Uttarakhand for over 48 hours.

The rescue teams have made little headway in cutting down the rocks that fell over a 200-meter area, trapping the workers inside the tunnel.

Rescuers are trying to create an escape passage to reach the trapped workers and the distance is about 40 metres. Officials said around 21 metres of slab blocking the tunnel has been removed and a 19 metres passage is yet to be cleared.

The team had initially been able to cut through 30 meters of rocks but some soil fell again, so they have been able to clear 21 meters.

The loose debris, which is delaying the rescue operations, is being stabilised and excavation with shotcreting for 40 meters of the collapsed tunnel has started.

Shotcreting is a term for spraying concrete at high velocity over a structure.

The rescue teams are planning to push a pipe with a 900 mm diameter using a hydraulic jack by boring a hole into the heap of debris to evacuate the trapped workers. Rescuers will use auger machines to drill a hole in the debris.

All the material and machinery needed for the daring operation has been brought to the site. Experts from the irrigation department have also joined the operation.

Videos from the spot showed huge piles of concrete blocking the tunnel, twisted metal bars from its broken roof buried in rubble creating more obstacles for rescue workers – who are mostly migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The workers got trapped in the tunnel on Sunday morning after the under construction structure on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway. 

The workers – who have been trapped in a buffer zone – are unharmed and are being supplied with food and oxygen through water pipelines. “They have a buffer of around 400 metres to walk and breathe,” a Disaster response official said.

The rescue teams have successfully established communication with the workers with Walkie-Talkies. Initial contact was made via a note on a scrap of paper, but later rescuers managed to connect using radio handsets.

The 4.5-km tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway, which will join Silkyara and Dandalgaon in Uttarkashi, is part of the Chardham project. Once finished, it is expected to cut down the distance by 26 km.

Initial reports suggest that a landslide in the region triggered the collapse, however, officials say that investigation is on to ascertain the exact reason for the collapse.

Delhi gasped for a breath this morning as the Air Quality Index (AQI) re-entered the “severe” category in several areas, shortly after the bursting of firecrackers across the National Capital Region on Diwali wiped out the improvement in air quality due to a spell of rain.

This morning, Delhi residents woke up to a choking smog cover that reduced visibility and intensified their struggle to breathe.

The AQI in the national capital, which had slipped to “very poor” yesterday as smoke from firecrackers joined air pollution due to stubble burning in north India, has now deteriorated further, data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed.

While the air quality index in ITO was pegged at 430 at 6 AM, the AQI in Jahangirpuri was recorded at 428, according to the CPCB data.

The AQI in RK Puram was 417, while in Punjabi Bagh, it was 410.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

While an AQI level of 400-500 impacts healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases, an AQI level of 301-400 causes respiratory illness on prolonged exposure. 

An AQI level of 201-300 and 150-200 may bring discomfort to people with lungs, asthma, and heart diseases.

Earlier on Monday, the 24-hour average AQI in Delhi was recorded at 358 (very poor), the CPCB said.

Most real-time air monitoring platforms this morning pegged the air quality index (AQI) above 500, with some places reaching as high as 900. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium recorded an AQI of 910, Lajpat Nagar 959, and Karol Bagh 779 around 6 am.

The capital city saw an AQI of 312 on Diwali last year, 382 in 2021, 414 in 2020, 337 in 2019, 281 in 2018, 319 in 2017, and 431 in 2016, according to the CPCB data.

Air quality in Delhi and other parts of north India deteriorates every year ahead of winter when cold air traps pollutants from vehicles, industry, construction dust, and stubble burning.

Cracks are now more prominent in the Opposition’s INDIA alliance with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioning why the previous Congress-led governments did not conduct caste census when they were in power.

Mr Yadav’s comment highlights the differences between the two parties that are part of the mega Opposition front seeking to put up a united fight against the BJP in next year’s national elections.

The previous governments did not act on this due to their faulty policies, he told ANI in Satna in election-bound Madhya Pradesh and taunted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his “X-ray” remark over the caste census demand.

At a rally yesterday, Mr Gandhi reiterated his call for caste census and termed the exercise an “X-ray” that would give details of various communities in the country. Asked about this, Mr Yadav said the Congress’s demand for a caste census is a “miracle”.

#WATCH | Satna, Madhya Pradesh: On Rahul Gandhi’s statement, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav says, “…Congress is the party which did not conduct caste census after independence… When all the parties in the Lok Sabha were demanding a caste census, they did not conduct a caste census.… pic.twitter.com/aYEaUU9SwT

— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2023

“X-ray was the need of that time. Now we have MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CT (computed tomography) scan. The disease has now spread. If this problem was solved back then, such a gap wouldn’t have existed in the society today,” he said mocking Mr Gandhi.

“The biggest miracle is the Congress is also talking about caste census. Those who are talking about X-rays are the same people who stopped the caste census after Independence,” he quipped.

Mr Yadav slammed the Congress for not conducting caste census after India attained independence. “When Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav), Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and parties from South India raised the demand in Lok Sabha, the Congress refused to do it,” he said.

“Why do they want to conduct caste census today? Because they know that their traditional vote bank is not with them. But the backward classes, Dalit, and adivasis know that they had betrayed them after Independence,” he added.

Mr Yadav has been training his guns at the Congress lately and has also claimed that the grand old party does not want to ally with his outfit after their relations soured over seat-sharing for the November 17 Madhya Pradesh elections.

Last week, he said the Congress did not implement the Mandal Commission recommendations and had opposed the caste census. In another instance, he told a rally in Madhya Pradesh that neither Congress nor BJP have done anything for the poor and farmers when they were in power in the state.

However, despite the signs of strain, he told NDTV last month that his party was still a part of the INDIA bloc.