Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the ‘forbidden’ rat mining method that she had batted for ultimately led to the rescue of the 41 trapped workers from the Uttarkashi tunnel.
“I had said time and again not to prohibit this mining technique. Even if it’s illegal, it worked,” Banerjee said, referring to the ‘prohibited’ rat mining method for the successful rescue operation.
The Chief Minister at the state Assembly said that even though foreign machines or experts were brought for the rescue operation, it did not prove effective in rescuing the trapped workers. Banerjee was referring to the setback faced some days back, after the auger machine that was brought for the operation broke while drilling into the tunnel delaying the rescue operation. Many “rat-hole miners” were called from Delhi and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh to manually drill through the remaining debris, clear the passage and lay a pipe through which the workers could be brought out. They successfully broke through to finally rescue the men on Tuesday.
Banerjee has already rushed a team to Uttarkashi to help the trapped people from Bengal. The team, led by Rajdeep Dutta, Liaison Officer, Office of Resident Commissioner, New Delhi, is helping in the safe return of the rescued workers to their homes in Bengal. Manik Talukdar of Cooch Behar; Sevik Pakhera of Harinakhali in Hooghly and Jaidev Pramanik of Nimdangi, Hooghly are the three workers who were rescued.