The collapse of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel and the more than week-long operation to rescue eight trapped persons has heated up politics in Telangana, with both BRS and BJP attacking the ruling Congress and blaming it for the tragedy.
The incident also sparked a fresh debate on the irrigation projects, with both Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Congress blaming each other for the inefficient handling of the irrigation sector.
The Congress government, which completed one year in office in December 2024, found itself on the back foot with the opposition parties taking it to task for what they called endangering human lives by undertaking the project without proper planning.
The delay in the rescue of trapped persons due to the complex nature of the incident 14 kilometers into the under-construction tunnel further exposed the government to criticism by the opposition.
Both the BRS and BJP also slammed Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for not visiting the accident site at Domalapenta in the Nagarkurnool district even once.
By visiting the tunnel, BRS and BJP leaders tried to mount further pressure on the government. They held the government responsible for the tragedy and termed the visits to the tunnel by the Ministers as a ‘picnic’.
BJP Legislature Party leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy, on March 1, led a team of BJP MLAs to the tunnel and blamed negligence by the government for the mishap.
He accused the government of taking no precautionary measures. “The government should explain what tests were conducted to assess the earth’s condition at the tunnel, which falls under the shear zone,” he said, adding that if the trapped individuals are found dead, the government must be held accountable.
While targeting the Congress government in the state, the BJP leader commended the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for its swift response to the incident. He said that on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s orders, the Army, Navy, NDRF, and other Central agencies were participating in relief operations.
He criticised Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and other Ministers for visiting the site by chopper every day rather than camping there.
Earlier, BRS leaders led by former minister T. Harish Rao visited the tunnel and blamed the government for the accident.
Stating that the government had no proper plan, the senior leader said not even an attempt was made to send oxygen beyond the debris.
He said the pipe meant for supplying oxygen was damaged due to debris, but the government made no effort to supply oxygen through a new pipe to the place where the eight persons were suspected to be trapped.
Uttam Kumar Reddy dismissed the BRS leaders’ visit as mere political theatrics. The Minister pointed out that in 2020, during the Srisailam Left Bank Power Station blast, which claimed nine lives, no BRS leader visited the site. He recalled that when Revanth Reddy attempted to meet the victims’ families, he was arrested.
Minister Reddy said that when the Devadula lift irrigation project tunnel was flooded, seven workers died, and their remains were recovered only after five years. He questioned why Harish Rao had remained silent during those incidents but was now giving lectures on the SLBC tunnel accident.
The Irrigation Minister blamed BRS for the SLBC tunnel accident, saying if it had completed the project during its 10-year rule, the accident would not have happened.
He said if the project had been completed on time, it would have provided 30 tmcft of water to Telangana, benefiting three to four lakh acres of agricultural land in Nalgonda district.
Uttam Kumar Reddy also stated that the government didn’t need Harish Rao’s unprofessional advice as professionals with expertise 1,000 times higher than him were carrying out the rescue operations.
“Is Mr Harish Rao trying to insult the Indian Army, Navy commandos, BRO teams and other experts who are risking their lives in this rescue?” he asked.
The ruling party also dismissed the criticism over the Chief Minister not visiting the accident site, saying his visit would have affected the rescue operations.
“I have flown several fighter jets. I do not fly helicopters for luxury like BRS leaders,” said Uttam Kumar Reddy, a former pilot with the Indian Air Force, on the criticism over using helicopters to visit the accident site.
The Congress government also expressed its determination to complete the SLBC tunnel project despite obstacles. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy vowed to complete it at any cost. The project is aimed at irrigating about four lakh acres.
“Part of the tunnel collapsed due to the previous BRS regime stopping work on the project for the last 10 years as they were not receiving commissioners from the contractor,” said Revanth Reddy.
Harish Rao, however, claimed that they had taken up dewatering when it was 10,000 litres per minute before resuming the work after the formation of Telangana. The former irrigation minister said they were spending Rs 1.5 crore every month on dewatering itself.
The BRS leader said the BRS government had excavated about 12 km of the tunnel and spent Rs 3,900 crore against Rs 3,300 crore spent by the Congress government during the 2005-14 period.
The incident also triggered a heated debate on the management of the irrigation sector by the BRS during the last 10 years and its handling by the Congress government during the last 14 months.
The Minister accused BRS president and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Harish Rao of crippling the Irrigation sector, alleging that they spent Rs 1.81 lakh crore on projects that did not deliver water as intended.
He said the Kaleshwaram project, on which the BRS spent more than Rs 1 lakh crore, collapsed. The Palamuru-Rangareddy project cost Rs 27,500 crore but did not irrigate a single acre.
Holding Chief Minister Revanth Reddy responsible for the SLBC tunnel tragedy, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said this incident happened even before the Sunkishala retaining wall collapse incident could fade from memory.
Alleging that the Congress government was compromising on the quality of work by taking commission from contractors, he demanded a judicial probe.
Dismissing the allegations, Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said that once the workers are safely rescued, the government will ensure that tunnel work resumes in the next two to three months and is completed within the stipulated time.
The accident in the SLBC tunnel occurred a few weeks after the Congress government resumed work on the long-pending project. SLBC is a crucial component of the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project (AMRP), which started in 1983 to provide water to dry regions of the Nalgonda and Nagarkurnool districts.
The 44-km tunnel is designed to carry 30 tmcft of Krishna River water from the Srisailam dam through gravity. Experts say that the tunnel works face challenges as its location is in a geologically fractured zone and groundwater aquifier area.
What delayed the rescue operation in the SLBC tunnel was the fact that it had no outlet point. Generally, entry and exit points for a tunnel are given at every 5 km, but due to the presence of the Amrabad Tiger Reserve area, entry and exit points are not allowed between the 44-km tunnel.
