Revanth Reddy lied on SLBC tunnel not being excavated during BRS rule, says KTR

Army’s Engineer Task Force continues rescue operations on March 3, 2025, at the collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel in Nagarkurnool, Telangana.
| Photo Credit: ANI

HYDERABAD

Working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) K.T. Rama Rao has ridiculed Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s claim that the previous BRS Government did not excavate Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel even for 2km to 3 km during 2014-23.

Terming it a white lie, Mr. Rama Rao said on Monday (March 3, 2025) that the records available with the State Government (Irrigation Department) would help Mr. Revanth Reddy know facts as the BRS Government had excavated the tunnel for 12 km length. It was the Congress Government that was sleeping over the work for the last 13 months as it was resumed only on February 18, while the party had come to power on December 7, 2023.

Follow updates from the tunnel collapse rescue operations in Telangana on March 3, 2025

He blamed the State Government for sacrificing eight lives by resuming work without taking any precautions and without any proper plan as the accident had taken place only on the fourth day after the work was resumed. Of the total length of 43.94 km tunnel, the Congress Government had excavated 22.89 km from 2005-14 and under the difficult circumstances the BRS Government had excavated another 12 km without giving any scope for mishaps.

Similarly, the BRS Government had spent ₹3,900 crore on the tunnel work against ₹3,300 crore spent by the previous Congress Government. The Kaleshwaram project too has 203 km length tunnels but there was no mishap on the scale of SLBC even once, Mr. Rama Rao noted.

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Meanwhile, another senior leader T. Harish Rao said the Chief Minister had also lied on his (Harish Rao’s) foreign visit and sought to set the record straight that he left Hyderabad on February 21, while the SLBC accident took place on February 22. He went there not for any picnic but to attend the marriage function of his friend Kotha Prabhakar Reddy’s daughter.

Another senior leader G. Jagadish Reddy said he had visited the Srisailam Left Bank Hydro-Electric Station within a few hours of the fire accident taking place there and the bodies of victims were recovered within 24 hours. The families of the victims were given compensation of ₹1 crore each and a government job to a family member of each of the victims.