Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has accused the central government of not being sympathetic towards workers trapped inside the under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi.

In an informal chat with reporters at Ranchi, Soren said: “I personally feel that the government sympathy towards the workers and their families leaves a lot to be desired. It has been nearly 10 days and we are not sure how many more days will the workers continue to be stranded inside the tunnel. Fifteen workers from our state are also among the stranded workers. We can very well feel the mental trauma of workers and their families.”

Nearly 41 workers, including 15 from Jharkhand, got trapped inside the under-construction Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of it collapsed on November 12.

“It is not the first instance of such mishaps taking place in government projects in Uttarakhand. In 2021, several of our workers from Jharkhand lost their lives in a disaster at Chamoli while working on an NTPC project. Our workers also died in a border road organisation project in the same state in 2021,” he added.

Taking a dig at the Centre for its failure to have safety and rescue protocols in place during such mishaps, Soren said: “While commencing work on such projects, one needs to have safety protocols in place and also have rescue plans in case of emergencies. But the situation is that even after so many days there are talks of hiring foreign experts for rescue works. We have no option but to wait.”

The chief minister also informed that a delegation of Jharkhand senior officials is camping in Uttarakhand and monitoring the situation.