Bhubaneswar: Odisha Labour Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak Wednesday met five workers hailing from the state who were rescued from a caved-in tunnel in Uttarkhand’s Uttarkashi district.
The minister, who has been camping in the Himalayan state for the past few days, met the rescued labourers at Chinyalisaur Hospital in Uttarkashi, where they are under medical observation.
“Hon’ble Minister, Labour & ESI met the five workers of Odisha who are rescued from the #UttrakhandTunnelCollapse in Chinyalisaur Hospital, Uttarkashi. All the workers are fine,” the official X handle of the Odisha Labour Commissioner said in a post.
Another labour department official said the rescued workers will soon be brought back to Odisha after completion of their medical check-ups.
All 41 workers trapped in Silkyara tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway in Uttarakhand for 17 days were rescued Tuesday evening.
The five rescued workers hailing from Odisha are Raju Nayak, Dhiren Nayak and Bisweswar Nayak from Mayurbhanj district, Bhagwan Batra from Nabarangpur and Tapan Mandal from Bhadrak district.
“On the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, our labour department officials have been camping there. To give moral support to the trapped workers, the Odisha government took their family members to Uttarkashi,” state Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi said.
Marndi, who hails from Mayurbhanj, said he has already met the family members of two workers from the district and given them some monetary support.
“We were in continuous touch with the families. I pray that such an incident does not happen in the future. I thank all personnel involved in the rescue operation,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, residents of the villages of the five workers erupted in joy after receiving news of the rescue of the trapped labourers. They thanked all agencies involved in the massive operation.
Family members of the rescued workers were now eagerly waiting for their return back home.
“I am relieved to know that my son has been rescued… I spoke with him over the phone Wednesday morning and inquired about his health. I am now eagerly waiting to see him,” Bisweswar Nayak’s father said.
PTI