Preparation underway for breakthrough of Silkyara tunnel on April 16

Uttarkashi, The district administration is preparing to organise a ceremony to mark the reaching of breakthrough point of two sides of the Silkyara tunnel and the consecration of a newly built temple at the mouth of the tunnel simultaneously on Wednesday.

Forty-one workers were trapped in a part of the underconstruction tunnel after a portion of it collapsed in 2023. A massive rescue operation that lasted 17 days finally ended in the safe evacuation of all the workers.

Only two metres more remain to reach the breakthrough point from one end of the tunnel to the other. One end of the tunnel is located at Silkyara bend and the other at Barkot.

Talking to reporters later, the district magistrate said all preparations for the tunnel breakthrough have been completed. "The temple dedicated to Baba Baukhnag outside the tunnel is also complete. We have talked to the local priests. If things go as planned we may have the breakthrough of the tunnel and the consecration of the temple on the same day on April 16," Bisht said.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Minister of State Ajay Tamta and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami may attend the event.

When labourers were trapped inside the tunnel for many days without food and water, it was believed by local people that it could be the result of a curse by Baba Baukhnag whose small temple outside the tunnel had been damaged in the course of its construction.

The miraculous rescue of all the trapped labourers was attributed by the chief minister to the blessings of Baba Baukhnag. He had announced soon after the conclusion of the rescue operation to build a temple of the deity exactly where it stood originally at the mouth of the tunnel.

With the breakthrough of the 4.5-km-long two-lane Silkyara tunnel, the Chardham all-weather road project will move one step forward.

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