Hyderabad, March 24 Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday directed the officials to continue the rescue operation in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool district where eight persons were trapped after the collapse of a portion of the roof more than a month ago.
The Chief Minister, who held a review meeting in Hyderabad on the rescue works underway at the partially collapsed portion of the tunnel, directed that necessary permission be taken from the Central government for continuing the rescue operation.
He also directed that senior IAS officer Siva Sankar Lotheti be appointed for continuously monitoring the rescue operation.
Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari was directed to immediately issue orders in this regard.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the officials briefed the Chief Minister on the progress made in the rescue operations so far.
Revanth Reddy said the agencies involved in the rescue operation should move forward as per the advice of the experts’ committee.
Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari and senior officials attended the meeting.
It was on February 22 that a portion of the roof of the tunnel collapsed, trapping eight persons.
Of the eight people trapped in the tunnel, one body was recovered on March 9. He was identified as Gurpreet Singh, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator from Punjab.
The search for the remaining missing persons by several agencies has not yet yielded any results due to various impediments.
Meanwhile, Nagakurnool district Collector Santosh Badavath said that digging at D1 and D2 spots and dewatering in the tunnel is going on continuously. He said that except for the spots in the tunnel which are considered extremely dangerous, the rescue work was accelerated in the remaining places.
The official said parts of the TBM, which were cut, were moved away and sludge was washed off using jet sprays. The rescue workers also used excavators to remove mud from the tunnel through the conveyor belt.
Several agencies of the state and the Central governments continued their efforts to trace the remaining workers.
The rescue teams continued digging at spots identified by the sniffer dogs. In hazardous areas near TBM, robotic technology is being deployed for safety reasons.
Multiple agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), and Anvi Robotics were engaged in rescue operation without a pause.
The search operation continued in the last 70 metres of the 14-km-long tunnel. The authorities remain hopeful of making progress in the coming days.
The seven persons yet to be traced are Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas (both UP), Sunny Singh (J&K) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu, and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.
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