DEHRADUN: The team of rat-hole miners who have been in the headlines since November 28 for saving the lives of 41 trapped workers in Uttarkashi's Silkyara tunnel are continuing to impress the people but for a different reason now.
Wakeel Hassan, the head of the group of rat miners refused to accept the relief amount announced by the Uttarakhand CM for portraying a heroic act.
Hassan who was keen on giving priority to his profession and humanity instead of making money said, "None of the rescuers could have done this alone, and this is the message I want to give to everyone, we should all live in harmony and not spread the poison of hate."
Hassan's team had a lot of experience digging small tunnels to lay long sewers and water pipelines, but they had never done such large-scale work before.
"The pressure to rescue the 41 workers in Silkyara motivated them further, and by the grace of God the operation was successful," Hassan said.
"As soon as we reached the labourers inside the tunnel after successfully passing through the debris, they hugged us like people of a family separated for a long time," Nasir Hussain, one of the six 'rat-hole miners', told reporters after the tunnel's successful campaign.
'Rat-hole mining' is a dangerous and controversial method used extensively in the northeastern state of Meghalaya to extract thin layers of coal, before an environment court in 2014 banned the practice due to environmental damage and numerous deaths.
According to the sources, "At least 15 miners died in a similar mine in Meghalaya after being trapped for more than a month."
It was one of several tragedies in the state, where the human rights group claimed that between 10,000 and 15,000 children and adults died in such mines through illegal rat-hole mining practices between 2007 and 2014.
When American Auger machines, vertical drilling and blasting, collectively went in vain to reach 41 workers stranded for 16 days in Silkyara, Uttarakhand, it was the banned 'rat-hole mining experts' who proved that, 'If there is a will, there is a way', and successfully rescued all the trapped workers.
After 16 days of relentless hard work in Silkyara, Uttarkashi, when no concrete solution was found despite the collective efforts of engineers, geologists, relief teams, and tunnel experts, the elders of this meagerly populated hamlet advised the rescuers citing mythological beliefs, in this sequence, the state government established the temple with the entrance of the tunnel and finally, everyone took refuge in the local deity Baba Baukhnag.
A miracle indeed, Delhi-based Rockwell Enterprises, a trenchless engineering services company that primarily cleans sewerage lines, was roped in to rescue in Silkyara. "It was due to the blessings of Baba Baukhanag, all 41 workers were rescued from the tunnel within two days", claims local MLA Sanjay Dobhal, who was the first who demanded setting up a temple at the entrance of the tunnel.
The 'Rat Hole Miners' resumed work late Monday night after a second drilling machine malfunctioned and 12 of the 58 metres remained to reach the trapped people. They worked in two teams of three each, with one person digging manually, another collecting debris and the third pushing it out of the pipe. "Rat hole miners may have achieved success after 26 hours, but their success has brought a glow on the faces of 140 crore people of the country," SDRF Commandant Manikant Mishra told the New Indian Express.
This team of 'rat-hole miners' came out as angels in the relief operation to save the trapped labourers in the tunnel. The ordinary workers of Rockwell Enterprises, a Delhi-based trenchless engineering services company, did what surprised the whole country and the world.