A week into the tragic tunnel collapse in Telangana, which has left eight workers trapped, rescue teams began cutting the part of the Tunnel Boring Machine and other obstacles that were preventing them from going to the spot where they could search for the individuals. As SDRF and NDRF teams continued rescue operations, Nagarkurnool Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Gaikwad said the damaged part of the conveyor belt in the tunnel is expected to be repaired during the day to facilitate the transportation of debris.
Telangana Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday said the TBM that is struck inside will be cut into pieces by using gas cutters and removed. After this, the Army, Navy, Rat Miners and NDRF teams will make another serious effort to rescue the eight persons who are missing, without compromising their own safety.
Replying to a query, the SP said he can not answer if the trapped individuals will be located today. According to sources some of the workers engaged in the tunnel work have stated leaving the place out of fear.
Labourers working on the SLBC project scared
A senior government official said there are 800 people working on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project out of which 300 are locals while the rest are from states like Jharkhand, Odisha and UP. On the media reports that labourers are panicked after the accident and planning to leave, the official said the initial apprehension will be there among the workers.
“The company constructed residential camps also for the workers. The initial panic will be there. Maybe some individuals want to go back. But we have no reports of workers leaving en masse,” the official said.
Eight personnel working on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel project were trapped after a portion of the tunnel collapsed on February 22.
Contracting firm CEO reacts to tunnel collapse
Jaiprakash Gaur, Founder Chairman of Jaypee Group, the contracting firm of SLBC project on Wednesday reacted to the incident saying accidents may happen during difficult works. Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, the flagship company of Jaypee Group, was awarded the tunnel boring of SLBC.
Gaur further said the teams are doing their best to see that those trapped individuals come out. Two engineers and four labourers of the eight trapped persons are working for Jaiprakash Associates.
The trapped persons have been identified as Manoj Kumar (UP), Sri Niwas (UP), Sunny Singh (J&K), Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahau, all from Jharkhand.
Of the eight, two are engineers, two are operators and the remaining four are labourers.
(With PTI inputs)