Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], March 24 : Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has directed officials to expedite rescue operations to locate and bring out the workers trapped inside the SLBC tunnel, his office said in an official statement on Monday.
The SLBC tunnel accident took place on February 22. Eight workers were trapped in the accident. One of the bodies of trapped workers - Gurpreet Singh was recovered on March 9, the statement said.
The Chief Minister instructed Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint senior IAS officer Shiva Shankar Loteti as a Special Officer to "continuously monitor the rescue operations."
CM Revanth Reddy reviewed the progress of the ongoing rescue operations in the SLBC tunnel on Monday) at Assembly Hall.
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 of collapsed rocks, dismantling the TBM ( Tunnel Boring Machine) parts and "clearing" soil mounds, silt and seepage water from inside the tunnel. The heads of the rescue teams also made a PowerPoint presentation and explained the present situation and rescue operations in the tunnel.
In the meeting, the top authorities said that rescue operations were "delayed due to poor air and light conditions" as the accident occurred 14 kilometres from the inlet in the tunnel. "30 meters of the accident area has been identified as the most dangerous zone".The officials also clarified that rescue operations will have to be carried out in the tunnel "according to the scientific studies" of the GSI and NGRI.
After a briefing on the rescue operations by the officials, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to give "top priority to finding the whereabouts" of the workers" who were trapped in the accident and ordered to take all necessary permissions from the Union Government for the emergency works to be carried out in the tunnel.
Instructing the officials to continue the rescue operations to locate the trapped 7 workers by following all necessary alternatives, CM Revanth Reddy asserted that the rescue operations should "continue" as per the instructions of the expert committee.
Telangana and Andhra Sub Area General Officer Commanding Ajay Mishra, Irrigation Advisor Aditya Nath Das, representatives of NDRF, SDRF, NGRI, GSI, Singareni, HYDRAA and the officials from the Fire Services wing, Contract Agency MD Pankaj Gaur, Nagarkurnool District Collector and SP are also present in the meeting.