The State government has reiterated its firmness to complete the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel project before December next year or January 2027.
The State Council of Ministers, which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday deliberated about the ways to take the project forward. Accordingly, it was decided to do away with the tunnel boring machine and adopt new technology for drilling the remaining part of the 44 km tunnel. The decision, according to Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, would not impose any additional burden on the Government.
He said the tunnel was conceived as part of efforts to divert 30 tmcft of Krishna water from Srisailam through gravity to Nalgonda district to mitigate the perennial fluoride problem. Works on the project were started as part of Jala Yagnam during the Congress government headed by late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and 32 km of the 44 km tunnel was completed by the Congress governments in power.
The BRS government, which came to power after 2014, lacked commitment to complete the project, as could be seen from the namesake work done on the SLBC project during its more than nine-year rule. “The then government completed little over 2 km tunnel during its tenure,” he said.
The Congress government which took over the reins in December 2023 gave a push to the SLBC works owing to its commitment to complete the project in the interest of the people of Nalgonda. The works, however, saw an unfortunate accident in the form of tunnel collapse claiming around 12 lives. The government had decided to go ahead with the works as close to 80 per cent of the funds earmarked for the project had already been spent.
The Minister said that the Cabinet had reviewed the progress of works on the four super speciality hospitals under construction at LB Nagar, Sanathnagar, Alwal and Warangal. It was accordingly decided to take steps to ensure completion of all works along with equipping the hospitals with super speciality infrastructure as early as possible.
The Cabinet approved dismantling the 62.5 MW unit, part of the Ramagundam power plant.
Published – October 23, 2025 11:41 pm IST
