Telangana tunnel collapse: Experts from GSI, NGRI roped in to assess situation
Nagarkurnool (PTI): Telangana state government has roped in experts from Geological Survey of India and National Geographical Research Institute besides an Australian part of L&T who has vast experience in tunnels, to suggest the way forward regarding the rescue of eight persons who remain trapped for the fourth day in Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel after part of it collapsed on Saturday.
Nagarkurnool District Collector B Santhosh on Tuesday said before taking any step forward stability of the tunnel has been taken into consideration even as dewatering is going on.
“As of now we are not able to communicate with them (trapped). We are taking the advice of the Geological Survey of India and some other people. As of now we are dewatering and going forward. But for the last 40 or 50 meters we are not able to go. As of now we are taking the advice of GSI and NGRI. L& T experts have also come here,” the collector told PTI.
He said the teams were able to reach the last fifty meters where the eight persons were trapped, due to accumulation of muck and debris. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy are expected at the accident spot today to oversee the rescue operations and make some crucial decisions, sources said.
Despite relentless efforts by the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, and other agencies, no breakthrough has been achieved so far in the rescue operations as the teams had to navigate through thick muck, tangled iron rods, and cement blocks to reach the accident spot in the tunnel to extricate the persons from partially collapsed tunnel in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district.
A team of 584 skilled personnel of Army, Navy, Singareni Collieries and other agencies along with central and state disaster response teams, have conducted tunnel inspections seven times, official sources said adding gas cutters to cut the metal rod are continuously working.
Telangana Minister Jupally Krishna Rao on Monday said the chances of their survival are "very remote," and rescuing the trapped individuals would take at least three to four days, as the accident site is filled with muck and debris, making it a daunting task for the rescuers.
He also mentioned that a team of rat miners, who had rescued the construction workers trapped in the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023, has joined the rescue teams to extricate the men.
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
