Almost all national and state agencies deployed in the operation following the February 22 roof collapse have been withdrawn. Only skeletal staff are now monitoring and managing the tunnel infrastructure
Although the original target was to finish the task by April 10, progress has been hindered by slushy conditions due to rising water seepage at the accident site. However, officials remain hopeful that the tunnel will be cleared up to the cave-in point by April 15, as long as operations continue smoothly.
Efforts to deploy robots for rescue operations are in progress. Nine days ago, officials deployed an automated sludge removal robot into the tunnel, and support staff deployed in the tunnel could install a vacuum tanker as part of the efforts. But the network and technical issues continued to hamper the effective use of robotic technology.
On Saturday morning, he visited the SLBC tunnel and held a review meeting with senior officials from various rescue teams. Special Chief Secretary (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar and Army Commandant Parikshit Mehra updated the Minister on the progress made in locating the trapped workers.
