Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Monday, November 3, said that the state government is committed to complete the pending work on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project, which is touted to be the world’s biggest 40 kilometer tunnel work.
The CM also announced that the government will provide compensation and address the grievances of the dwellers of the submerged Marlapadu, Keshya tanda and Nakkalagandi habitations located close to the SLBC project. Revanth Reddy along with ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy visited the site as part to launch the Ae/rial Electromagnetic Survey for the SLBC tunnel works at Mannevari Palli in Nagarkurnool district.
Addressing the media, the Telangana CM said that the project cost is estimated at Rs 4600 crore and the government is ready to provide irrigation facilities to 3 lakh acres by lifting 30 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water from the Krishna River.
Revanth Reddy came down heavily on the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government for allegedly not completing the SLBC tunnel works during its nine year rule which he said was “for political reasons.”
On February 22, a portion of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool collapsed, locking eight workers, including two engineers, inside the debris and slush. Eight persons–engineers and labourers were trapped under the collapsed roof of the SLBC tunnel since then. Rescue operation with experts from 11 agencies including the Indian Army, NDRF, SDRF, GSI, SCCL, fire services, police, irrigation department, NGRI, HYDRAA, SCR plasma cutters, Rat Miners, L&T, Navayuga, JP, were engaged for more than a week to rescue the workers trapped due to the SLBC tunnel collapse.
According to a press release from his office, the SLBC project was sanctioned in 1983. During the time of the late Andhra Pradesh (joint state) CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s government, work had started on Tunnel-1 and Tunnel-2 in 2004 at the cost of Rs. 1968 crore.
“After KCR became CM in 2014, the works stalled. KCR and Harish put the project on hold intentionally and created hurdles to the project to supply water to Nalgonda through gravity,” the Telangana CM alleged, adding that such a big tunnel project was not taken up anywhere in the world. He claimed that the project would have been completed at the cost of Rs 2000 crore had the BRS government completed the works.
Revanth Reddy attacked ex-CM and BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) for not taking up “even a single project on river Krishna” and for allegedly spending Rs 1.86 lakh crore on contractors in 10 years. The CM stated that state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy is making all out efforts to complete the SLBC works by roping in the Army officials to dig the tunnels without any trouble in the future.
“It was unfortunate that 8 workers died during the excavation of the tunnel and the government supported the bereaved family members,” stated the Telangana CM. He also also criticized the previous the BRS government for “compromising on the utilization of Krishna water”.
“The then Irrigation minister T Harish Rao signed an agreement with Andhra Pradesh to utilise only 299 TM of water. The Congress government took serious note of it and made strong arguments before the Tribunal to protect the state interests,” said Revanth Reddy according to the release. He also Harish Rao to stop making “cheap comments and creating nonsense on water issues”.
