SDC Foundation releases Media Monitoring Brief on Tunnel Collapse in Silkyara, Uttarkashi

Dehradun based environmental action and advocacy group SDC Foundation has released an extensive media monitoring brief on the recent tunnel collapse in Silkyara in district Uttarkashi. The document is a compilation of collected and archived news clippings for the entire duration of the Silkyara disaster. The 226 page document is a summary of key news items that were published in national and state wide print media.

On November 12, 2023, while still under construction, a portion of the Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel, intended to link National Highway 134 in Uttarkashi, collapsed. The collapse took place at about 5:30 IST, trapping 41 personnel within the tunnel.

Numerous government agencies from the Centre and State, including the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force, the Uttarkashi district authorities, Uttarakhand Police, engineers from the Indian Army Corps and Project Shivalik of the Border Roads Organization, the Indian Air Force and many others were involved in the rescue efforts that were initiated right away.

Due to the fact that the initial rescue attempts proved difficult because of the types of debris generated by the collapse, the government eventually brought in “rat-hole” miners who were able to employ manual mining methods and extend an access pipe to the trapped workers.

Commenting on the document, Anoop Nautiyal, the founder of SDC Foundation said that as an environmental action and advocacy group SDC believes in the power of archiving & documentation of disasters and climate centric changes in Uttarakhand. SDC has regularly been engaging in extensive archiving of media updates, identifying trends & finally communicating its findings through an array of detailed summaries & reports in Uttarakhand.

It had followed the tunnel collapse in Silkyara in the same spirit. In the process, SDC has documented key news items relating to the collapse. These were sorted & classified based on broad categories, and have now been digitized for public access.

Anoop Nautiyal hoped that the document could be a tool for information, research, advocacy or for reference to various stakeholders such as government officials in the centre and in state, development practitioners, researchers, social workers, civil society organizations and media groups.