HYDERABAD
The Irrigation Department is planning to resume work at the earliest on the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel, which was halted on February 22 following collapse of the tunnel roof, about 14 km inside from the mouth, near Domalapenta, in Nagarkurnool district, burying 8 workers alive. Another 10 km tunnel is to be excavated to meet the work done from the other side.
This was decided at a meeting held here on Saturday by Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy for an in-depth review of the pending work. The 43.931 km tunnel work was taken up from two sides – from Srisailam reservoir side near Domalapenta, and from Dindi balancing reservoir on the other side.
The work was stopped in 2023 following a problem in the tunnel boring machine (TBM) from Dindi reservoir side. It was stopped in the Domalapenta side much earlier, again due to some problems in the TBM. It was resumed on February 22 after replacing some parts of the TBM in the Domalapent end, but within four days, the roof collapse incident took place.
Only two of the 8 bodies were recovered before the rescue operation was abandoned in April-end, following the advice of the experts over the danger in taking up debris removal in the last 50 meters of the tunnel excavated from Domalapenta side.
The Minister stated that drilling and blasting (excavation) was to be taken up in an estimated 10 km length for completing the tunnel. Terming SLBC lifeline for Southern parts of Telangana, he said its completion must be treated as a top priority and executed with urgency.
He explained that the SLBC tunnel would be taken up/resumed using the latest electromagnetic survey technology in collaboration with the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and the Geological Survey of India (GSI). To ensure precise planning and seamless execution, he instructed the officials to expedite the (aerial) LiDAR survey.
Earlier in the day, he had a meeting with a team of NGRI scientists to finalise the technical modalities of the survey. He reiterated that cost would not be a constraint, but highest quality and speed must be maintained at every level.
The meeting also marked the first formal interaction with Col. Parikshit Mehra, an acclaimed tunnel engineering expert who recently joined the Irrigation Department on deputation. The Minister expressed confidence that Col. Mehra’s expertise would help resolve long-pending technical challenges and fast-track completion of the SLBC and other key tunnel projects.
He stated that Gen. Harpal Singh, former Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army, too would be appointed as an honorary Advisor in the Irrigation Department soon to strengthen the department’s technical capacity and tunnel execution capabilities.
The Minister also reviewed the progress of de-siltation and de-sedimentation works across the Krishna and Godavari basins, which he said were essential to enhance/restore the storage capacity and improve water management. He pointed out that water storage capacity of several irrigation projects had come down drastically due to sedimentation and silt accumulation.
Published – July 19, 2025 08:32 pm IST
