
SLBC tunnel rescue: Technical committee decides to use drill & blast method to continue work
Srisailam Left Bank Canal
(SLBC) decided to use only the
drill and blast method
to continue the tunnel work and also for rescue operations in the 'critical zone' where the six remaining bodies are likely trapped.
The panel also decided to decommission the services of the
National Disaster Response Force
(NDRF) and the Indian Army for the rescue operations, as the govt has almost completed the search operations. However, the services of other agencies such as Singareni, South-Central Railways (SCR), HYDRAA, and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) would be used to carry out any other works.
The technical committee, comprising 18 members from various departments and constituted by the state govt on SLBC rescue works, held its first meeting on Thursday. The panel constituted a sub-committee with subject experts, including the Geological Survey of India (GSI), National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM), Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIFMR), National Center for Seismology (NCS), and Col Parikshit Mehra, a tunnel expert from the Border Road Organisation (BRO), to provide a site-specific report on how to reach the remaining 43 metres of the 'critical zone' for rescue works and how to continue the tunnelling works. The technical committee was against using the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) for future work.
"The sub-committee will examine the feasibility within the threshold as defined by the ministry of environment and forest and come up with recommendations," Telangana special chief secretary (disaster management) Arvind Kumar told TOI.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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Meanwhile, the Telangana irrigation department also started working on the available options to continue the tunnelling works and began a survey to provide a shaft or adit (a horizontal or nearly horizontal passage to an underground mine).
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