HYDERABAD: The location of eight workers trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel since the roof collapse on Feb 22 is not known yet, and it may take two or three more days to pinpoint the spot, chief minister A Revanth Reddy said after visiting the site in Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool on Sunday.
After a review meeting with 11 expert agencies, the CM said that rat-hole miners had drilled where the NGRI ground-penetrating radar showed possible human remains, but they found only metals. During the meeting, Revanth and irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, a former IAF fighter pilot, said the top priority of the Telangana govt is to find the trapped workers.
“There is no exact trace of the trapped workers. As of now, 11 agencies, including the Army and Navy, are working to rescue the workers. We have directed the teams to use robots to save the workers and also prevent any loss of life in the operations. The rescue operation is one of the most complicated. As of now, nothing can be said about the fate of the trapped workers. The time now is to stand together by keeping politics aside and support their families,” he said, adding that the govt was ready to help the affected families.
The CM also said the Congress govt was firm on completing the SLBC tunnel project once rescue operations were completed. He said that a technical assessment will be done to make the tunnel safe for future work.
On Sunday, the work to find the workers was in full swing, but continuous water flow along with sludge was impeding the operations. The work was expected to speed up by Monday evening when the crucial conveyor belt to carry out the sludge and muck was expected to be in working condition again, the CM said after being briefed by the rescue team representatives.
“They (rescue personnel) are not able to come to a full understanding of where the humans and the machinery got stuck,” he said.
Responding to the criticism by the opposition parties over the incident, the CM said, “Politicising such an accident is inappropriate. It is neither experts’ nor the govt’s fault, but a natural disaster. Water that accumulated over the years between rocks gushed out, causing the portion of the tunnel to collapse.”
“The previous BRS govt, from 2014 to 2023, did not complete even 2-3 km of work and stopped it for 10 years. The Congress govt took up the project. The work on the tunnel stopped as the previous BRS govt did not pay bills and even electricity charges to the contractor, following which power supply was cut. We paid the bills and resumed the work. The Congress government is committed to completing the project and bringing water to fluoride-hit parts of Telangana,” Revanth said.
