Family members pray for rescue of labourers trapped in Uttarakhand tunnel

Kokrajhar: With prayers on their lips, family members of two Assam labourers who were trapped inside the collapsed under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand for 14 days, are waiting for their rescue.

The kin of those two workers hope that all those who are inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district will be rescued soon.

A total of 41 workers were trapped inside the tunnel as the operation to evacuate them continued to get disrupted for one reason or another.

Hailing from Ramfalbil village in Kokrajhar district, 40-year-old Ramprasad Narzary and Sanjay Basumatary, 35, had gone there in May.

'We can only hope and pray that all are rescued soon and they return to their respective homes,' said Basumatary's father Dhiren Basumatary.

The government has brought many sophisticated machines to rescue them but it is taking a long time and 'now we are worried', he said.

'We cannot do anything from here but can only rest our faith in God and the government. My elder son Rocket Basumatary was also working at the site and it is he who is giving us the information about those trapped inside', he added.

Narzary's wife Sumitra appeals to both the Uttarakhand and central governments to rescue all the trapped workers safely.

'We are receiving news that they are being provided with food but we are concerned about their health. We are hopeful of their safe return', she added.

Both the families thanked the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) chief Pramod Boro and Kokrajhar West MLA Rabiram Narzary for sending two persons, one from each family, of the trapped labourers by providing them with plane fare and other provisions to Uttarkashi.

The multi-agency rescue effort began on November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed, trapping workers who were still inside.