Tunnel collapse: T'gana CM announces ₹25L ex-gratia for worker's Family
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Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh to the family of Gurpreet Singh, a tunnel worker who lost his life in the partial collapse of the SLBC tunnel in Nagarkurnool district.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed condolences over the death of the worker engaged in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel works.
Rescue teams identified the remains found in the tunnel as Gurpreet Singh, a worker from Punjab who was trapped since February 22 when the tunnel roof partially collapsed.
Gurpreet Singh was employed as a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) operator by Robbins, an American company.
His body was recovered on the 16th day of the rescue operation, it was found after the cadaver dogs from Kerala identified a spot for the presence of human remains under the rubble.
The Chief Minister expressed heartfelt condolences to Gurpreet Singh's family and announced a ₹25 lakh ex gratia. His remains were sent to his Punjab hometown.
The specially trained dogs detected human presence at the D-2 point, approximately 100 meters from the accident site, within the final stretch of the 14-kilometre-long tunnel. Guided by this discovery, rescue workers meticulously excavated the silt at the identified location and retrieved a body on Sunday evening.
The rescue teams continued their search for the seven remaining persons trapped in the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel.
The group, comprising four laborers, two engineers, and two machine operators, hailed from various states including Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir, and were trapped inside when a section of the tunnel roof collapsed during excavation work on February 22.
The seven trapped persons are Manoj Kumar (UP), Sri Niwas (UP), Sunny Singh (J&K), and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu, and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.
Several agencies of the state and central governments have been making efforts for the last 15 days to trace the missing persons.
(inputs from IANS)