Telangana: KTR slams Revanth Reddy for putting lives of eight workers at risk in SLBC tunnel tragedy

BRS working president criticised Chief Minister over the SLBC tunnel tragedy and charged the Congress government with keeping the project works pending for 14 months since it assumed power and then shifting blame to the previous BRS regime

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy over the SLBC tunnel tragedy, blaming his hasty decisions for putting lives of eight workers at risk. He charged the Congress government with keeping the project works pending for 14 months since it assumed power and then shifting blame to the previous BRS regime.

In a strong counter to Revanth Reddy’s remarks blaming the BRS for SLBC tragedy, Rama Rao said it was shameful to target the BRS government, which had completed 12 km of tunnel work, while the current administration could not even dig a centimetre in the last 14 months. The Congress government rushed into restarting work without proper planning and precautionary measures, leading to the accident in just four days after resuming the work, he pointed out.

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While the SLBC tunnel spans 43.94 km, the Congress government from 2005 to 2014 had completed only 22.89 km. Despite the project’s difficult conditions, the BRS government successfully completed an additional 12 km without any incidents, he said.

The BRS working president also objected to the Congress government misleading the public about project expenditures, stating that while the previous Congress government spent Rs 3,300 crore on SLBC works, the BRS regime invested Rs 3,900 crore. “Yet, the current Congress government is engaged in baseless allegations,” he added.

Drawing a comparison to the Kaleshwaram project, where 203 km of tunnels were dug without any major accidents, Rama Rao said the Congress had a history of launching irrigation projects but failing to complete them. He warned that the Chief Minister’s attempts to divert public attention from the Congress’s failures would not yield results and the Chief Minister had no option but to admit his mistakes.