Jeypore: Army engineers from Ranchi checked and began the rescue operation in the Bariput accident site Wednesday where two JCB operators are trapped since the last seven days after the collapse of a hill during stone quarrying.
The frantic efforts of NDRF personnel to rescue the two workers from under the huge pile of boulders did not yield results and the Army was called in by the district administration.
The NDRF team did not have appropriate equipment to move the huge boulders.
Sources said the Army team will use explosives to blast the boulders. Local residents have been asked to stay away from the site in view of the rescue operations.
The two JCB operators — Ghanashyam Guru of Deogarh and Sanjay Dash from the Athagarh area of Cuttack district — were engaged in excavating boulders for the Telengiri Irrigation project in Bariput village when the hill suddenly caved in at around 5 pm on May 31.
The Koraput Sub Collector had requested in a letter on April 23 to the district administration and the police to take action against the company’s illegal stone quarrying at the site between Ranigada village and Telengiri project. He had also ordered the seizure of the two JCB machines and a compressor used for the quarrying.
It is not known as per whose instruction the stone quarrying was allowed at the place which is just 500 metres away from the Telengiri project.
PNN
