Trade unions demand govt expedite rescue operations at Silkyara Tunnel
Silkyara tunnel be expedited to save the workers and called for a detailed probe into the incident while reiterating its demand to withdraw the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020.
“There should be a thorough probe into the laxity at any level, right from tendering to various other stages of work of the tunnel,” the trade unions said in a joint letter.
The 10 unions include Congress-backed INTUC, AITUC of the Communist Party, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, Sewa, Aicctu, LPF and UTUC along with independent sectoral federations and associations.
“We demand the Occupational Safety and Health Code, based on the premise of ‘ease of doing business’, be withdrawn forthwith, which weakens whatever safety measures exist at present, rather pushes the workers out of the safety net,” it said.
The trade unions demanded that the government ratify the ILO conventions about health and safety, which have been brought under Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work by ILO in its session in 2022.
“We demand that all the four codes, including the Code on OSH, be withdrawn and the Indian Labour Conference should be held at the earliest to address the workers’ concerns on codification of laws,” it said in a statement.
The road transport and highways secretary Anurag Jain said on Tuesday that the government hopes to rescue the trapped workers in 72 hours if the horizontal drilling of the tunnel, resumed on Tuesday, is successful.
41 workers got trapped after a portion of the tunnel under construction between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed on November 12.
As part of the Chardham Mahamarg Pariyojana, the road transport and highway ministry has taken up the construction
