Hyderabad: Tunnel excavation work at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) is set to resume following the tragic tunnel roof collapse in February this year. Authorities have decided to bypass the collapse site and begin work 100 metres away to avoid the unstable geology. They have also planned to go ahead with a drill and controlled blast method instead of the tunnel boring machine (TBM).
The 44-km-long SLBC tunnel is a critical irrigation and drinking water initiative in Telangana, which aims to transfer Krishna River water from the Srisailam reservoir to drought-prone Nalgonda and Nagarkurnool districts.
On February 22, a portion of the SLBC tunnel in Nagarkurnool collapsed, locking eight workers, including two engineers, inside the debris and slush. So far, two bodies have been recovered while six are yet to be retrieved.
According to a report in Times of India, the pending 9 km stretch will be completed using the drill and controlled blast method, which would allow for rock and other conditions to be assessed beforehand.
The estimated cost of this method is around Rs 100 per km, totalling Rs 900 crore for the remaining stretch, significantly lower than the Rs 2,000 crore estimated for the TBM approach.
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