Telangana: Final Call on SLBC Likely Today

Hyderabad: Two months after the February 22 collapse inside the SLBC tunnel in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana, and with no signs of the bodies of still to be found six workers feared buried in the unstable section of the tunnel, a technical committee of experts and officials will, on Thursday, discuss the way forward. The meeting is expected to take a call on if the search for the missing workers can be continued under the current circumstances.

The committee set up on April 16, will meet on April 24 to examine the technical feasibility and whether efforts to locate the missing six bodies can be undertaken safely in the final 50 metres of the tunnel. With experts from GSI, NGRI, and other scientific agencies suggesting that the piled-up silt and rocks reaching up to the tunnel roof at the collapse point faces the danger of sliding, and could result in a fresh collapse, there has been a question mark on how to continue the search, or it needs to be called off.

Meanwhile, removal of silt, rocks, and dewatering operations in the safe zone, up to the point where the final section has been fenced off, is continuing officials said. This work is expected to be completed in the next few days.

It may be recalled that it was on February 22 that a section of the tunnel collapsed with eight workers getting buried in the falling debris and inside the tunnel boring machine that was pushed back nearly some 150 metres, and was completely filled with silt and rocks. Of the eight, bodies of two workers have been found. The still missing six workers are believed to be inside the last 20 metres of the tunnel, declared a ‘critical zone’ and marked off limits to all, including rescue workers.

The fencing off of the critical zone followed advice from scientists from the Geological Survey of India who said the area near the tunnel face where the collapse occurred, “is in a critical stage of stability” due to continuous water flow, and deformation of pre-cast segments holding up the tunnel sides. If the muck removal continues, the GSI said the “natural platform” that formed with the collapsed material covering and burying part of the tunnel boring machine and is acting like a plug preventing further collapse, might be disturbed and may result in a fresh collapse.

The committee comprising NDRF, NGRI, GSI, National Centre for Seismology, National Institute of Rock Mechanics, Border Roads Organization, SDRF, irrigation department, and some senior government officials, is scheduled to meet in Hyderabad.

The committee’s mandate includes not just how to continue with the rescue work in the final stretch of the tunnel covered with rocks and silt, but do without putting rescuers in harm’s way, to extricate the bodies of the six missing workers and hand them over to their families in a time bound manner. The final decisions will be based on advice from the experts, and work is expected to be carried out after necessary approvals, and permissions from the appropriate agencies.