COIMBATORE: Three people were on Saturday evening killed in a landslide when they were working on the Kundah Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Project at Kattukuppai in Nilgiris district.
The trio was identified as Arun Kumar (28), Marimuthu (55) and Anandhan (29) of Watrap near Rajapalayam in Virudhanagar district. They were working on the project, the completion of which would add about 500 MW to the grid.
Speaking to Express, Nilgiris Collector P Sankar, who visited the hospital and the accident spot, said the workers were in the process of building a tunnel for the project. They had completed the ripbeam, an arch for the tunnel, and were carrying out the concrete work for the retaining wall.
However, due to recent rains in the area, the top soil had become loose and mud from about 80 ft above fell on them. Despite efforts by other workers and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) personnel, they could not be saved. It took rescuers about one-and-a-half-hours to pull them out, Sankar said.
When asked if all clearances were obtained by TANGEDCO before starting the work in the area, the collector said they should have taken all clearances before the work commenced. However, he was not sure on it.
When contacted, TANGEDCO divisional engineer Thirumal said the corporation has given the stage 2 environmental clearance before the work commenced and there was no violation.
The power project, which is estimated to cost about `1,800 crore, is likely to produce about 500 MW of power and the work is expected to be completed in about 10 years.