As hopes of finding the eight still trapped in the collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) alive slowly fades, a multi-agency rescue team continued Wednesday to devise a plan for the best method to cut across the slush and reach them. This comes as hundreds of tunnel workers still living in labour colonies inside the SLBC demand payment and release from work.
On Wednesday evening, Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the rescue operations are expected to end in the next two days. The operation to rescue the eight people, who were trapped after a portion of the tunnel ceiling near Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool district collapsed last Saturday, is being led by the National Disaster Response Force and involving the Army, Navy, and other specialised forces. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is the latest agency to join the efforts.
“The assessment Tuesday was that the people going in to rescue and bring out the survivors would themselves be at great risk. Yesterday and today, we have assessed the situation thoroughly and devised clear strategies to minimise risk for the rescuers and move forward efficiently. We now have a well-defined plan, and we are accelerating the rescue and relief operations with greater speed,” Reddy, who is overseeing the rescue efforts, told The Indian Express.
Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project site where a portion of the tunnel ceiling collapsed on February 22. (Express photo by Sreenivas Janyala)
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Telangana Government had escalated its efforts, deploying elite forces, national agencies, and high-tech solutions to ensure the swift and safe evacuation of the trapped workers. Following an extensive field assessment over the past two days, a concrete plan of action “has now been finalised to ensure the safety of both rescuers and survivors,” the minister said.
According to him, one of the biggest challenges in the rescue effort has been the massive accumulation of muddy water obstructing access to the tunnel boring machine TBM. To tackle this, the state government has intensified dewatering operations using advanced machinery, ensuring water removal progresses rapidly.
“We are taking additional precautions to ensure rescuer safety while moving forward aggressively to save the survivors,” he said, adding that real-time monitoring of tunnel conditions was being carried out using advanced imaging systems.
Meanwhile, hundreds of tunnel workers housed at two SLBC labour colonies are demanding that Jaiprakash Associates Ltd – the company building the tunnel – pay their salaries and let them go.
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Most of the workers are from Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. With the tunnel work stalled indefinitely, most of the workers fear losing employment opportunities elsewhere.
“Those of us who witnessed the horror in the tunnel on Saturday morning can never return to work here or in any tunnel. We should be allowed to go home,” Govind Sahu, a welder at SLBC, said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
