Pushpa Devi, 35, from Maneri village in Bhatwari block of Uttarkashi, travelled 65 km every day on a bus to work at Silkyara, where 41 workers were rescued after a 17-day rescue operation. Over the past fortnight, she laboured from dawn to dusk, to build a 1.2-km road to facilitate transportation of heavy machinery to the rescue site.
Ms. Pushpa was among the scores of contractual workers hired by the Border Road Organisation (BRO), who had toiled tirelessly and away from the limelight, for the success of the operation.
“I used to leave home at 6 a.m. and go back at 8 p.m. I had to temporarily leave my six children at my sister’s home so that I could totally focus on constructing roads for the rescue mission,” said Ms. Pushpa who received ₹15,000 for her efforts. She will use the money to pay the school fees of her children and buy them winter uniforms, apart from essentials for her home.
Ms. Pushpa’s husband, Govind Singh, also works with the BRO and when the couple has nothing to do, it takes up odd construction and whitewashing jobs. They want to educate their children but are struggling financially.
‘Gave my 200%’
Sushma, 23, holding a shovel and chisel over her shoulders, was busy posing for presspersons who had gathered outside the tunnel. Before she turned up for road work, Ms. Sushma had no knowledge that she would be a vital cog in the wheel of a life-saving rescue operation that would draw the attention of the entire nation.
“Once I got to know that I have to work to get my brothers out, I put in 200% energy,” said Ms. Sushma who is eager to meet her two toddlers back home.
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Like these two women, Dinesh Singh, Shyam Babu, Rabi Rai, Lalu Raut and Akhilesh Kumar too laboured away on the sidelines, unobtrusively, helping a team of seven cooks and helpers prepare food for the trapped workers.
“We were told to make food that was not too spicy and with very little oil. Doctors asked us to mix chana dal and dalia so that the food remained healthy and delicious. We also sent halwa and ladoo to the workers inside the tunnel,” said Mr. Singh who hails from Bihar and has been working at the canteen at the Silkyara tunnel construction site for the past four years.
‘Bottled food!’
Mr. Kumar, dubbed a “graduate cook” at the canteen, works from a yellow two-storey house barely meters away from the tunnel. When sending food to the workers through a six-inch diameter pipe proved to be a challenge, he came up with the idea of sending it in bottles.
“The officials asked how the workers would be able to get the food out of the bottle. Then we decided to cut the bottles in half, fill them with food, and join the two halves with adhesive tapes so that workers can simply remove the tapes and eat from the bottles,” said Mr. Kumar.
Chetan Negi of Hans foundation fed more than 15,000 people, from rescue teams and presspersons to workers and villagers, for 17 days. The canteen became a lifeline for many who couldn’t move from the tunnel site.
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Pradeep Kumar, who is part of 108 ambulance service, is a resident of Dunda block of Uttarkashi. He couldn’t go home for Deepavali this year as he was immediately asked to rush to the Silkyara tunnel as the news of trapped workers broke on the morning of November 12. Mr. Pradeep Kumar spoke to his young son on video call after the rescue mission was completed successfully.
Dheeraj Mani Dabral and Harish Chandra, the two ambulance drivers who worked in 12-hour shifts with Mr. Pradeep Kumar, are happy that they were part of a rescue mission that has made an entire nation proud. All they want now is a day’s leave.
