41 workers evacuated from collapsed Uttarakhand tunnel declared fit to return home but are in dilemma

After being declared fit to return home, all the 41 workers rescued from collapse Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi are now faced with dilemma whether to stay back or return to their homes. “They are physically normal and clinically stable. We have given them clearance to return home,” Dr Ravikant of AIIMS Rishikesh told media on Thursday, adding that the workers were thoroughly examined and their blood test, X-ray, and ECG reports were normal.

The workers, who were rescued on Tuesday night after 17 days, might need acclimatisation, the doctor said. Also, the workers have been advised to go to the nearest hospital after two weeks for a check-up. “On the basis of their major organ screening, we can say they are fit to travel. As they were taken good care of during their confinement in the tunnel with regular feeding, there was no case of starvation. They are mostly quite young or of middle age. That also helped them stay fit,” Dr Ravikant said. He further said the doctors from AIIMS-Rishikesh will stay connected with the workers through tele-medicine to monitor their mental health for the next few weeks. Though the family members desperately want them to return home, the 41 rescued workers appear to be in dilemma. One of the labourers said his mother wants him to quit the tunnelling job. “We work in such conditions…. it is dangerous,” he said.

Another labourer, a resident of Bihar who works as a machine operator, said: “I have filled up the leave application form to go back home. We don’t know when the construction work will resume. According to a government official, the construction work could only be resumed after a safety audit of the tunnel. The mountain was drilled from the top to about 45 meters to rescue the trapped workers and the debris was still lying in the tunnel, he said. “We don’t know whether we have to stay back or should we home,” a labourer from Odisha who has been working at the Silkyara Tunnel site for the past two years said. The number of workers from Jharkhand is the highest at 15. These 15 and five other workers from Odisha may be taken home on Thursday as their nodal officers were alreay present at AIIMS Rishikesh. The responsibility of commute of the rest of them will be handed over to authorised representatives from their states as and when they approach the hospital administration, Dr Ravikant said. “Our priority is to ensure that all workers are safely transported to their home by officials authorised by their respective state governments,” another doctor said at the media briefing. There are eight from Uttar Pradesh, five from Bihar, three from West Bengal, two each from Uttarakhand and Assam, and one from Himachal Pradesh. With inputs from PTI