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The government has asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Konkan Rail Corporation DMRC, and international tunnelling experts Chris Cooper and Arnold Dix to come out with the SOPs by January-end.
Activists suggest unsuitable construction methods may be the root cause of the disaster, noting that the use of dynamite and large drills in the sensitive Himalayan terrain causes landslides and tunnel collapses.
Officials said around 21 metres of slab blocking the tunnel has been removed and a 19-metre passage is yet to be cleared. Rescue teams are planning to push pipes of 900 mm diameter, wide enough for the trapped men to squeeze through.
A portion of the tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed in the early hours of Sunday. Rescue operations are being carried out to evacuate 40 labourers trapped inside. Some experts are also unhappy with the methods being adopted for the construction of Char Dham all-weather highways, especially the widening of roads.