HYDERABAD: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday said the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Srisailam Left Bank Canal (AMR-SLBC) tunnel project would be completed by June 2028.
Reviewing the project, he directed officials to expedite works and complete the tunnel and the canal network simultaneously. He said the project would benefit farmers in the drought-prone and fluoride-affected regions of south Telangana.
The minister assured that the government would remove bottlenecks, resolve land acquisition issues and strengthen technical supervision to ensure timely completion.
He said about 0.5 km of the tunnel had recently been completed using advanced technology. “The progress from the Devarkonda side is steady. All precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of teams working on the Srisailam side. Three arm boomers have reached Mumbai port and will arrive at the site by the end of this month, further accelerating the work,” he said.
Describing the project as vital for some of the poorest and most remote areas of the state, Uttam said completing it was a priority for the government.
He said the SLBC tunnel was designed to draw 40 tmcft of water from the Srisailam reservoir to irrigate nearly four lakh acres. The revised administrative sanction for the project stands at about `12,718 crore. Besides creating irrigation potential for 4.01 lakh acres, it will provide drinking water to 618 fluoride-affected villages and meet industrial and other water requirements, he added.
Uttam directed officials to treat Main Tunnel-I, Main Tunnel-II, the Dindi component, balancing reservoirs and the canal network as a single integrated project. He also stressed worker safety, calling for adequate lighting throughout the tunnel, deployment of senior geologists, engineers and technical experts, and continuous monitoring of construction quality.