As the rescue operation to trace the eight missing personnel inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool continues for the seventh consecutive day, the Telangana Government has now started focussing its attention on taking up an alternative tunnel in extension to the existing one so that there are alternative entry or exit options. This was mulled to meet any eventuality in the future.
Latest updates on the rescue works at Telangana SLBC tunnel Day 7 (February 28, 2025)
On Friday (February 28, 2025), the rescue teams had made a lot of headway with removal of hundreds of tonnes of slush manually and dewatering almost complete. The specialised rescue teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), South Central Railway’s (SCR) metal cutting expert team headed by the Divisional Mechanical Engineer and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) silt clearing teams and Indian Army are working round the clock to clear the huge accumulated debris braving sheet of slush and water.
Slush inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal in Nagarkurnool being cleared
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By Arrangement
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) experts including former Director General Lt. General Harpal Singh, former ADG K.P. Purushothaman and Col Parikshit acknowledged the rapid pace of removal of debris. Based on the recommendation of the BRO team, rescue teams began clearing the slush, cutting twisted iron and steel. Huge quantity of iron and steel along with slush is being brought out by SCR and SCCL workers.
Two pronged strategy
Now, the government’s two pronged strategy is to first rescue the trapped personnel and simultaneously draw an action plan to avoid recurrence of such mishaps in the future.
The idea of alternative tunnel might be a dicey issue as the entire SLBC tunnel falls under the Amrabad Tiger Reserve forest area, it needs to gain special environmental clearance from Centre. But, the Government feels that the lessons learnt from the SLBC tunnel collapse surely has given rise to a need to look at the alternative tunnel as a long term measure.
The cost of the SLBC project is ₹4,600 crore and the tunnel covers a distance of 44 kms – of which work on 35 kms is already completed. The tunnel works are 400 metres below the Amrabad Tiger Reserve. The environmental clearance was given only after the government assured that the tunnel would have end to end opening in its 44 kms run from Srisailam to Devarakonda.
The Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy too has mooted idea during his interaction with the more than a dozen agencies involved in rescue operation inside the tunnel. “It’s a strong case now in view of the long term safety. It can be taken up with all due precautions as suggested by the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change,” top government sources told The Hindu on Friday.
NGRI completes 50% GPR study
In the meantime, Ground Probing Radar study by NGRI has covered 50% of the area between the end of the tunnel and the metals from the dismantled Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) by late last evening. “They are studying the data to ascertain any disturbance/anomaly,” sources noted.
“The GPR can detect any anomaly based on radio sensors till about 10 m of depth. The idea is to look for possible sites for anomalies and then go deeper as to what could be those anomalies. The typical surface is water/slush (first 1-2.5 mtrs) followed by metal/rocks,” sources said.
