Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], February 27: Following the collapse of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha strongly criticized Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for his lack of action in addressing the situation.
Speaking to ANI, Kavitha expressed concern over the safety of the workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel. “Workers, including 1-2 engineers, have been stuck inside the tunnel. It is an unfortunate incident, but it is very unfortunate to know and understand that the Chief Minister of Telangana has not visited the site to date, and he’s not on top of things,” she said. She also called for immediate intervention, demanding that the Chief Minister visit the site and oversee the rescue operations. “We demand that the Chief Minister immediately visit the site and take care of the rescue operations. We demand that the government takes this incident very seriously,” she added.
In response, Telangana Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy provided an update on the rescue operations. He assured that a comprehensive plan had been put in place to minimize the risks for the rescuers and accelerate the rescue efforts. “The assessment was that the people going into rescue and to bring out the survivors would themselves be at a great risk. Yesterday and today till now we have assessed the situation and now we are telling you clearly how to minimize the risk for rescuers and how to go forward,” he explained. Reddy added, “We have made a concrete plan of action now. We will be going with greater speed for saving the survivors and for all rescue and relief operations…We will finish everything in two days.”
Additionally, a team of expert miners, who had previously played a key role in the Uttarkashi tunnel rescue in Uttarakhand, was deployed to assist in the SLBC tunnel rescue operation. Munna Qureshi, a member of the mining team, spoke about the challenges they faced. “Our team rescued 41 workers in Uttarkashi. We have to conduct a rescue operation here also. There is some difficulty, but we will solve the problem and give you results,” Qureshi assured. He further noted, “The situation is serious here. It is a big mission…The Collector is saying to rescue all the workers. We are a total of 12 rat miners here.”
The collapse of the SLBC tunnel in Telangana has raised significant concerns, and efforts are continuing to ensure the safety and timely rescue of the workers trapped inside.