SLBC tunnel collapse: Senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti to monitor rescue operation

Hyderabad: Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has asked the Chief Secretary to appoint senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti as a special officer to monitor the rescue operation at the collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel.

The rescue operations at SLBC have been continuing since February 22. Eight people have been trapped inside the facility. So far, the body of only Gurpreet Singh was recovered on March 9.

The bodies of the remaining seven have not been retrieved. It has been over a month since the rescue team is looking for the missing persons.

Review meeting

CM Revanth Reddy took stock of the situation on Monday and asked the officials to expedite the operations. Ministers N Uttam N Kumar Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, and other top officials participated in the meeting.

State Special Chief Secretary to Disaster Management Arvind Kumar and Colonel Parikshit Mehra briefed the CM about the progress in the ongoing rescue operations at the accident site in the last one month. The officials informed the Chief Minister that 25 agencies including various wings of the Central and State governments as well as private organizations are engaged in the rescue operations. A total of 700 personnel have been involved in the rescue operations.

The official said the rescue teams are removing the debris, dismantling the TBM ( Tunnel Boring Machine) parts, clearing soil mounds , silt and seepage water from the tunnel. The heads of the rescue teams also made powerpoint presentation about rescue operations in the tunnel.

Poor light and air inside the tunnel

Rescue operations were delayed due to the poor light and air inside the tunnel. The accident occured 14 kilometers from the inlet of the tunnel. The accident area is 30 meters. It has been marked as the most dangerous zone due to the soft earth, soil and also continuous flow of water. Rescue team has been asked to carefully tread on this area.

The officials explained that rescue operations are being carried out under the expert guidance of the Geological Survey of India and the National Geophysical Research Institute who are giving inputs on the geological state inside the tunnel.

Permission from the Union government

Chief Minister instructed the officials to give top priority to finding the whereabouts of the workers who have been trapped. He asked officials to take all necessary permissions from the Union Government for the emergency works to be carried out in the tunnel.

Further work

Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said the work of one kilometer inside the tunnel will be carried out manually. The other works of 9.5 kilometers are pending. Total tunnel had to be dug of approximately 44 kilometers (43.930 km) in Nalgonda district to take water from the Srisailam backwaters. The accident occurred at 14 kilometers. The Srisailam Edamgattu Branch Canal (SLBC) project was launched to provide irrigation water to the Devarakonda and Munugodu constituencies in Nalgonda district, mainly by utilizing the Srisailam backwater and drinking water to fluoride-affected areas.

Background

The SLBC tunnel accident took place on February 22. Eight workers were trapped in the collapsed tunnel. One of the bodies of the trapped workers was recovered on March 9.

Instructing the officials to continue the rescue operations to locate the trapped seven workers by following all necessary alternatives, CM Revanth Reddy asserted that the rescue operations should continue as per the instructions of the Expert Committee.