A fresh landslide hampered efforts to rescue 40 labourers trapped in an under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand for over 70 hours. Rescue officials had spent hours preparing a platform for the auger drilling machine to insert steel pipes through the rubble, but a landslide on Tuesday night forced them to dismantle the machine and start work on the platform again.

The drilling machine would have helped create a passage for the labourers to come out of the tunnel which collapsed on Sunday morning. Officials said around 21 metres of slab blocking the tunnel has been removed and a 19 metres passage is yet to be cleared.

Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela had earlier told reporters that the trapped labourers could be evacuated today.

“If everything goes as planned, the trapped labourers will be evacuated by Wednesday,” he said after visiting the accident site on Tuesday evening.

But the latest visuals showed rescue teams dismantling the drilling machine and the platform that had been created.

In an update, the state disaster response force said that work is on to set up a new drilling machine.

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 plan is to push through both 800- and 900-millimetre diameter sections of mild steel pipes — one after the other — into the rubble using drilling equipment and create an escape passage for the workers who, officials said earlier, are safe and being provided with oxygen, water, food packets and medicines through tubes.

There are eight 900-millimetre diameter pipes with a length of six metres each and five pipes of 800-millimetre diameter of the same length, the State Emergency Operation Centre said.

A part of the tunnel being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway caved in on Sunday following a landslide. The trapped workers have a buffer of around 400 metres to walk and breathe, officials said.

The rescue teams have also 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 slugfest between Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leaders – Gajanan Kirtikar and Ramdas Kadam – over the Northwest Mumbai Lok Sabha seat continued on Tuesday, prompting Chief Minister Shinde to intervene in the matter.

While Mr Kirtikar, a veteran leader and two-time MP from the constituency, wants to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls again, Mr Kadam is eyeing the seat for his son Siddhesh Kadam.

“Gajabhau (Kirtikar) had said that he will not contest the polls owing to his age. But how did he become young after Uddhav Thackeray declared his son (Amol Kirtikar) as a candidate for the seat. Is there a plan to get a ticket for your son from Eknath Shinde because you and your son operate from the same office,” Mr Kadam said.

Mr Kadam said he will not ask for a ticket for his son Siddhesh.

While Gajanan Kirtikar belongs to the Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde, his son Amol Kirtikar is still affiliated to Shiv Sena (UBT). Ramdas Kadam is a senior Sena leader and former state minister, whose other son Yogesh Kadam is an MLA from Dapoli.

Amid a war of words between the two leaders, Mr Kirtikar on Monday dubbed Ramdas Kadam as ‘gaddar’ (traitor).

Mr Kadam met CM Shinde at the latter’s official residence in Mumbai on Tuesday to discuss the development with him.

After meeting CM Shinde, Mr Kadam said the matter between him and  Mr Kirtikar should be resolved before the latter talks to the media.

Mr Kadam also said he has no problem with Gajanan Kirtikar contesting from the Northwest Mumbai Lok Sabha seat.

Taking a dig at the two leaders, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab said the two leaders have exposed each other and also their “gaddari”.

He asserted that Amol Kirtikar will be fielded from the Northwest seat by Shiv Sena (UBT) and expressed confidence of his victory.

 A 16-year-old girl, who was allegedly sexually harassed by a man, committed suicide in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district on Tuesday by consuming poison as the accused was pressuring her to withdraw the case, police said.

The incident took place in a village in the Jhinjhana police station area.

The girl’s father had lodged a police complaint alleging that Talib had sexually harassed his daughter. Talib was arrested by police last year but was later granted bail by the court.

According to a complaint lodged by the girl’s father on Tuesday, Talib was pressuring his daughter to withdraw the case against him which is pending in court.

Based on the fresh complaint, Talib has been booked on charges of abetment of suicide, Additional Superintendent of Police O P Singh said.

Efforts are being made to arrest the accused, who is on the run, he said.