Kaleshwaram tunnel collapse in Telengana kills seven

HYDERABAD: An under-construction tunnel of Kaleshwaram large irrigation project in Telangana's Sircilla district collapsed on Wednesday , killing seven workers and seriously injuring one.

While six workers, from Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Telangana, died on the spot, another succumbed to injuries at the hospital.

The tunnel is part of 10th package of Kaleshwaram project, originally awarded to Hindustan Construction Company ( HCC) and now being built as sub-contractor by Prathima Infrastructure, belonging to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP Boinapally Vinod Kumar's kin.

Telangana irrigation minister T Harish Rao has ordered a comprehensive probe into the tragedy . He also announced that the contractor would pay ex-gratia of ` . 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.

Sircilla district collector D Krishna Bhaskar, who rushed to the spot along with the district superintendent of police Viswajit, said the tunnel collapsed in the afternoon when eight workers were involved in construction activity .

Kaleshwaram is one of India's largest lift irrigation projects, involving Rs 80,499 crore of outlay and consisting of three barrages across river Godavari at Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla to divert 180 tmc of water. Vinod Kumar said his younger brother Srinivas Rao's Prathima Infrastructure was building the tunnel as sub-contractor of HCC, which was awarded the project by the Telangana government.

“Unfortunately , there was a blast in the roof of the tunnel under construction due to shale gas in the rocks, collapsing the tunnel,“ said Kumar, who is also the deputy floor leader of TRS in the Parliament.

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock over the accident and conveyed condolences to the members of bereaved families.He directed He directed officials to ensure precautions to prevent such accidents.