Gutha Sukhender Reddy Opposes Political Criticism on SLBC Tunnel Incident
Hyderabad: Telangana Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy has stated that the SLBC tunnel incident was unfortunate but stressed that making political statements about it was not appropriate.
Speaking to the media at the Council premises, Reddy explained that the Telangana government, with the support of the central government, was taking all necessary steps to address the situation. He mentioned that the tunnel was originally handed over to Jayaprakash Company by the previous government in 2005. A committee was formed during Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure, and Reddy himself was a part of it. The SLBC tunnel was submerged during the floods of 2009 and 2010. After 2014, then Chief Minister KCR conducted a review meeting and decided to restart the work. Reviews on the project continued during Harish Rao’s tenure as the Irrigation Minister. However, after Harish Rao, the Irrigation Department remained under KCR, and no further reviews were conducted on SLBC.
Reddy emphasized that incidents during the construction of large projects should be seen as accidents rather than political issues. He stated that Harish Rao had experience as an Irrigation Minister and that politicizing such matters was unnecessary. He assured that government experts and emergency teams were actively working on the situation and that political criticism was unwarranted.
The Council Chairman also urged the government to prioritize ongoing projects and ensure their completion. He pointed out that land acquisition remained a major challenge in completing such projects. He also highlighted that central government forces were actively involved in the rescue efforts and that the state government had not failed in handling the situation. Reddy assured that there was no negligence on the government’s part and that accidents were inevitable in large projects. He concluded by reaffirming the government’s commitment to completing the SLBC tunnel despite the challenges.
