Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy visited the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel on March 2, nine days after the tunnel collapsed and trapped eight men, who are now feared dead. On March 1, authorities announced that the positions of four of the eight trapped individuals have been traced using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and that they would be brought out by the evening of March 2. The tunnel is located at Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool district.
Speaking at a public meeting in Wanaparthy on March 2, CM Revanth blamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao for the incident, alleging that the previous government had caused undue delays in the irrigation project, which eventually led to the accident.
Addressing KCR, CM Revanth said, “You delayed our projects… Because works were stalled, today the roof collapsed and eight people died. Isn’t this sin yours, KCR?”
Revanth also blamed KCR for cooperating with the Andhra Pradesh government’s Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme on the Krishna River, alleging that Telangana’s share of the river water was unfairly going to the neighbouring state because of the project.
The collapse of the SLBC tunnel on February 22, and the more than week-long operation to rescue the eight trapped workers, has heated up politics in Telangana, with both BRS and BJP attacking the ruling Congress and blaming it for the tragedy.
The incident also sparked a fresh debate on the irrigation projects, with both BRS and Congress blaming each other for the inefficient handling of the irrigation sector.
The Congress government, which completed one year in office in December 2024, found itself on the back foot, with the opposition parties criticising it for allegedly endangering human lives by undertaking the project without proper planning.
The delay in rescuing the trapped workers due to the complex nature of the incident — which took place 14 kilometres into the under-construction tunnel — further exposed the government to criticism from the opposition.
Both the BRS and BJP also criticised CM Revanth for not visiting the accident site even once until March 2, nine days after the incident.
By visiting the tunnel, BRS and BJP leaders tried to mount further pressure on the government. They held the government responsible for the tragedy and termed the visits to the site by the ministers as a ‘picnic’.
BJP Legislature Party leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy, on March 1, led a team of BJP MLAs to the tunnel and alleged that negligence by the Congress government had caused the mishap. He accused the government of taking no precautionary measures. “The government should explain what tests were conducted to assess the earth’s condition at the tunnel, which falls under the shear zone,” he said, adding that if the trapped individuals are found dead, the government must be held accountable.
While targeting the Congress government in the state, Maheshwar Redd further commended the BJP-led Union government for its swift response to the incident. He said that the Army, Navy, NDRF, and other central agencies were participating in relief operations on the orders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He also criticised Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and other ministers for visiting the site by chopper every day, rather than camping there.
Earlier, BRS leaders, led by former minister T Harish Rao, visited the tunnel and blamed the government for the accident. He said that the pipe meant to supply oxygen was damaged due to debris, but the government made no effort to supply oxygen through a new pipe to the location where the eight persons were suspected to be trapped.
Uttam Kumar Reddy dismissed the BRS leaders’ visit as mere political theatrics. The minister pointed out that in 2020, during the Srisailam Left Bank Power Station blast, which claimed nine lives, no BRS leader visited the site. He recalled that when Revanth Reddy attempted to meet the victims’ families, he was arrested.
He further noted that when the Devadula Lift Irrigation Project tunnel was flooded, resulting in the deaths of seven workers, their remains were recovered only after five years. He questioned why Harish Rao had remained silent during those incidents.
The Irrigation Minister also blamed BRS for the SLBC tunnel accident, stating that if the project had been completed during its 10-year rule, the accident would not have occurred. He said if the project had been completed on time, it would have provided 30 tmcft of water to Telangana, benefiting three to four lakh acres of agricultural land in Nalgonda district.
The ruling party also dismissed the criticism over the Chief Minister not visiting the accident site, arguing that his visit would have affected the rescue operations.
“I have flown several fighter jets. I do not fly helicopters for luxury, like BRS leaders,” said Uttam Kumar Reddy, a former pilot with the Indian Air Force, in response to the criticism over using helicopters to visit the accident site.
The Congress government expressed its determination to complete the SLBC tunnel project despite obstacles, with the CM vowing to complete it at any cost. The project is aimed at irrigating about four lakh acres of land.
“Part of the tunnel collapsed due to the previous BRS regime stopping work on the project for the last 10 years, as they were not receiving commissions from the contractor,” said Revanth Reddy.
Harish Rao, however, said the BRS government had initiated dewatering when the flow was 10,000 litres per minute before resuming work after the formation of Telangana. Dewatering is the process of removing groundwater and surface water from an excavated site — a crucial step to create dry and stable soil before construction begins. According to the former irrigation minister, they were spending Rs 1.5 crore every month on dewatering alone.
The BRS leader added that his government had excavated about 12 km of the tunnel and spent Rs 3,900 crore, compared to the Rs 3,300 crore spent by the Congress government during the 2005-14 period.
The incident has also triggered a heated debate on the management of the irrigation sector by the BRS during the last 10 years, and its handling by the Congress government during the last 14 months.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy accused KCR and Harish Rao of crippling the Irrigation sector, alleging that they spent Rs 1.81 lakh crore on projects that did not deliver water as intended.
He alleged that the Kaleshwaram project, on which the BRS spent more than Rs 1 lakh crore, had collapsed, and that the Palamuru-Rangareddy project, which cost Rs 27,500 crore, had not irrigated a single acre.
Holding CM Revanth responsible for the SLBC tunnel tragedy, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said this incident happened even before the Sunkishala retaining wall collapse incident could fade from memory. Alleging that the Congress government was compromising on the quality of work by taking commission from contractors, he demanded a judicial probe.
Dismissing the allegations, Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said that once the workers are safely rescued, the government will ensure that tunnel work resumes within the next two to three months and is completed on schedule.
The accident in the SLBC tunnel occurred a few days after the Congress government resumed work on the long-pending project. The SLBC is a crucial component of the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project (AMRP), which started in 1983 to provide water to dry regions of the Nalgonda and Nagarkurnool districts.
The 44-km tunnel is designed to carry 30 tmcft of Krishna River water from the Srisailam dam through gravity. Experts say that the tunnel construction faces significant challenges due to its location in a geologically fractured zone and groundwater aquifer area.
What delayed the rescue operation in the SLBC tunnel was the lack of an outlet point. Generally, entry and exit points for a tunnel are placed at every 5 km, but due to the presence of the Amrabad Tiger Reserve area, entry and exit points are not allowed in the middle of the 44-km tunnel.
The tunnel excavation was being carried out by the US firm Robbins Inc, and contractor JP Associates. Those trapped under the tunnel include two engineers, two machine operators, and four workers. They were identified as Sunny Singh and Gurpreet Singh of Robbins Tunnel Boring Machines Manufacturing Company, and Manoj Kumar, Srinivas, Sandeep Sahu, Santosh Sahu, Anuj Sahu, and Jagath Khes, all working for Jaiprakash Associates.
(With IANS inputs)