Floods have damaged numerous hydropower projects, blocking tunnels with debris
A 12-member team of the miners was also deployed at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel in Telangana in Feb 2025 after a collapse trapped eight workers.
NEW DELHI: A Delhi-NCR team of “rat miners”, whose manual excavation helped rescue all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara tunnel in 2023, has offered to join rescue operations in flood-hit Nepal, where at least 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects and about 500 are believed to be inside tunnels. “We were highly moved after seeing news and videos (of the Nepal floods)… this is one of the worst tragedies we’ve witnessed in recent times,” he said. Firoz Qureshi, who took part in the Silkyara rescue, said the team was ready to leave immediately if Nepal sought its help. Monu Kumar, the youngest member of the group, said their manual techniques could be useful where heavy machinery was unable to penetrate. “Our hands and our tools can go where big machines cannot,” he said. “We just need permission to go and start.”
Anand Kansal, Pune-based volunteer coordinator for the team, has written to Indian Ambassador to Nepal, seeking help in placing the miners’ expertise at the disposal of Nepalese authorities.