Hyderabad, July 6 (RAHNUMA): Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has made it clear that the government is firmly committed to completing the SLBC tunnel by June 2028, while ensuring the highest safety standards for the workforce engaged in the tunnel works.
Chairing a high-level review meeting on the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Srisailam Left Bank Canal (AMR-SLBC) Project at the Secretariat on Monday, the Minister said the project was not merely an engineering exercise but the fulfilment of a long-pending promise to the drought-hit and fluoride-affected people of south Telangana.
He said the government would clear bottlenecks, resolve land acquisition issues, strengthen technical supervision and ensure that the SLBC tunnel and canal network are completed together.
“Since resumption of SLBC tunnel work with advanced technologies using observation techniques half a km of progress has already been achieved. Progress from Devarkonda side is steady. All precautions are being taken to ensure safety of the teams at work on Srisailam side too. Three arm boomers have already reached Mumbai port and will be reaching site by the month end which will further accelerate the progress,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
The government is committed to completing the SLBC tunnel as by June 2028. Whatever has to be done will be done,” he told officials.
“The SLBC tunnel has been designed to draw 40 TMC of water from the Srisailam Reservoir to irrigate nearly 4 lakh acres. The revised administrative approval for the project is about Rs 12,718 crore. Overall, the project will create irrigation potential for 4.01 lakh acres, provide drinking water to 618 fluoride-affected villages, and meet industrial and other water requirements,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
He further instructed officials to work with clearly defined deadlines and the main tunnel-I, tunnel-II, Dindi component, balancing reservoirs and canal network should be treated as one integrated project.
