The Uttarakhand Congress has decided to felicitate the rat miners involved in the rescue operation in Silkyara that saved the lives of 41 labourers trapped in an under construction tunnel.  Addressing media persons at Rajiv Bhawan on Friday the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said that as per the wishes of the top leadership of the Congress party, the state unit of the party has decided to hold a felicitation ceremony for the rat miners. He said that all the MLAs of the party have decided to donate their one month’s salary to the rat miners. The PCC president also expressed gratitude to engineer Varun Adhikari who suggested that the State government should take services of rat miners in the rescue operation in Silkyara.

Mahara attacked the BJP for trying to take credit for the rescue operation and said that the party has made it a habit to make the Silkyara tunnel incident an event. Mahara said that the government which is seeking credit for the rescue operation cannot run away from the responsibility of the incident and circumstances which led to the situation in which 41 labourers were trapped in a tunnel.

Former chief minister Harish Rawat said that the Silkyara incident has put up a question mark on the tunnel technology and its usage. He said that the state should now decide on how many tunnels it needs and what are their benefits for the local population and environment. He said that issues related to the collapse of the tunnel should be discussed and deliberations on safety measures should be held so that such accidents do not occur in future. 

The leader of opposition (LoP) in State assembly Yashpal Arya said that the tunnel collapse incident has brought up the fragility of the Himalayan ecosystem and its complexities in a clear manner. The incident also reflects failure of environmental impact assessment procedures in the projects being undertaken in the area.
Former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal said that the tunnel collapse incident is the result of gross neglect of the work execution agency and alleged that the State government is trying to protect the company. Godiyal and former MLA Vijay Pal Sajwan also declared that they would donate an amount equal to one month’s salary of the MLAs to the rat miners.