Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday suggested the use of robots for rescue operations in the partially-collapsed Srisailama Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in which eight persons remained trapped since February 22.
The Chief Minister, who visited the tunnel on Sunday and held a review meeting with agencies involved in the rescue operation, asked officials to examine the possibility of using robots to prevent any further loss of life.
He told media persons that the government wants to make sure that those engaged in rescue operations do not suffer any loss.
During the review meeting, he suggested the use of robots for the rescue mission in addition to men and material. “There should be no further loss of human lives. So many people are going inside to work. We want to make sure that they face no problem,” he said.
Stating that rescue teams of 11 top agencies including Army and Navy were continuing their efforts to rescue the missing persons he said it may take another 2-3 days for them to come to a conclusion.
“Eight missing persons have not yet been traced. Experts have not come to a conclusion whether they are alive or dead,” he said.
Revanth Reddy said the rescue teams were working against all odds like seepage of water and silt 13 km inside the tunnel. He said the rescue workers were unable to send out removed silt and debris as the conveyor belt was not functioning. He hoped that the conveyor belt would become operational by Monday evening and this would speed up the rescue work.
The Chief Minister said the agencies involved in rescue have not been able to come to a final conclusion about the location of machines and human beings though they have tentatively identified the areas.
He assured that the state government would extend all help to the families of eight persons, who had come from other states to work as engineers, machine operators, or labourers. Stating that helping them is the responsibility of the government, he stressed the need for all to come together to console the families affected by the accident.
He lashed out at the opposition parties for criticising his government despite its swift response in launching the rescue operations and roping in all top agencies from the Centre and the state and leading tunnel experts.
Revanth Reddy said his government allowed leaders of opposition parties to visit the project and give their suggestions. “In the past when an accident happened in the SLBC power generation unit and I tried to visit the accident site, they arrested me. Those in the government did not visit the accident site and they also did not allow opposition to visit,” he said.
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said 11 agencies including the Army, the Navy’s MARCOS, the Border Roads Organisation, the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation, the Railways, the Singareni Collieries, the NDRF, the SDRF, the NGRI, and the Geological Survey of India were working with coordinated efforts and under a unified command.
(IANS)
