Hyderabad, Feb 24: Two teams of construction major Larsen & Toubro with advanced equipment on Monday joined the operation to rescue eight trapped workers from an under-construction tunnel, a portion of which collapsed on February 22 in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district.

L&T, which has the experience of the rescue operation in Uttarakhand, has brought endoscopic and robotic cameras

Nagarkurnool district Collector Badavath Santosh said the rescue teams had to cover a distance of another 40 meters to reach the point where the roof had collapsed. This stretch of the tunnel is filled with muck, making further advance of the rescue operations difficult.

The L&T teams will deploy endoscopic and robotic cameras to sift through the muck and communicate with survivors, if any, at the fag end of the tunnel.

The teams used the same equipment for rescue operations after the Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel collapsed in Uttarakhand, where 41 workers trapped inside were rescued after 17 days in 2023.

Multiple teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Army and other agencies continued rescue operation on Monday.

More than 48 hours after a portion of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel collapsed, the fate of eight men, including two engineers and two machine operators, was not known.

Teams of the Indian Air Force and Navy are also reaching Srisailam in three helicopters from Visakhapatnam to join the rescue operation.

NDRF personnel managed to reach the tunnel boring machine at the 14th-km point but heaps of debris hampered the search operation.

The tunnel remained flooded with water for about two kilometres, making the rescue task more challenging for more than 300 rescue workers. Rescue teams deployed heavy motors for dewatering.

The operation encountered more problems as the loco train to move into the tunnel broke down at the 11th kilometre. Efforts were on to fix the problem.

NDRF, Army, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) were making intensive efforts to dewater and desilt the tunnel.

Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao, who were supervising the rescue operation, went into the tunnel by a loco train on Sunday. Jupally Krishna Rao told media persons after coming out of the tunnel that the chances of finding the trapped persons alive were remote.

Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said all efforts were being made to pull out the trapped men safely. He said the possibility of reaching the spot by digging the tunnel from the top was being explored.

Two workers were injured and eight others were trapped when a portion of the tunnel was being dug as part of SLBC collapsed near Domalapenta.

A total of 50 persons were working on the left-side tunnel when the roof collapsed for three meters. The accident occurred at the 14th km point.

While 42 workers came out of the tunnel, the remaining eight were trapped. Those trapped include two engineers and two machine operators.

The trapped men are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.

Project manager Manoj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Machine engineer Srinivas (Uttar Pradesh) and machine operators Sunny Singh (J&K) and Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) are among those trapped. The four workers from Jharkhand are Sandeep Sahu, Santosh Sahu, Anju Sahu and Jagta Khes.

New Delhi, Feb 24: BJP MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely took oath as the pro-tem Speaker of the Delhi Assembly on Monday and will chair the proceedings during the first sitting of the legislature.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena administered the oath to the Gandhi Nagar MLA at Raj Niwas.

Four-time legislator Arvinder Singh will perform the duties of the Office of the Speaker till the new Speaker is elected.

In a notification published in Delhi Gazette on Saturday, the legislative Assembly secretariat quoted an L-G’s order which said, “I hereby appoint Arvinder Singh Lovely, a member of the newly elected Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi to perform the duties of the Office of the Speaker from the commencement of the said meeting and until the new Speaker is elected.”

The LG’s order added, “I also hereby appoint Arvinder Singh Lovely to be the person before whom Members of the newly elected Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi shall make and subscribe oath or affirmation in accordance with the provisions of section 12 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991.”

The CAG reports are also expected to be placed on the table of the House on February 25.

Vijender Gupta, a three-time legislator and three-time councillor who has been designated by the BJP to be the next Speaker, had said the proposal to call a three-day session of the legislature – February 24, 25 and 27 – was approved by the Delhi Cabinet in its first meeting on Thursday.

He said since the CAG reports, including the one pointing to lapses in the now-withdrawn excise policy, have already been received in the office of the Speaker of the outgoing Assembly, these will be the first to be taken up by the new House.

The CAG reports are expected to expose the alleged financial mismanagement of the previous AAP governments led by Arvind Kejriwal.

The excerpts of a few CAG reports that managed to reach the public domain revealed a revenue loss of over Rs 2,026 crore due to irregularities in the Delhi government’s excise policy.

New Delhi, Feb 22: The government is committed to providing quality healthcare services for workers and their families, Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, said on Saturday, emphasising the welfare of workers.

Dr Mandaviya, who visited Chandigarh to review key institutions under the Ministry, said that data-driven decision-making is crucial for enhancing economic growth, governance and service delivery.

As part of his visit, the Union Minister toured the Labour Bureau and the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Model Hospital, Chandigarh, assessing their ongoing initiatives and interacting with stakeholders.

At the Labour Bureau, he was apprised of the objectives, scope and status of various activities, including price indices, labour statistics and surveys.

Dr Mandaviya also took a review of the performance and initiatives of the EPFO Regional Offices under the Punjab & Himachal Pradesh Zone at the Labour Bureau.

The Union Minister highlighted that reforms in the IT system are continuously transforming the functioning of the EPFO.

Later, the Union Minister visited the ESIC Model Hospital in Chandigarh and toured the hospital facilities. He interacted with patients receiving treatment at the hospital and reaffirmed to them that the government is committed to providing quality healthcare services for workers and their families.

Earlier this week, Dr Mandaviya instructed officials to prioritise efficient medical service delivery and expedite the timely completion of hospital renovation and construction projects.

During his visit to ESIC Hospital in Mumbai, he interacted with patients and staff to understand their experiences and feedback on the services provided.

To improve efficiency and transparency, he directed officials to accelerate the digitisation of processes, including inspections, ensure better upkeep of laboratories, and maintain a strong focus on transparency in regulatory activities.

Meanwhile, the payroll data of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), released on Friday, show that as many as 17.01 lakh new employees were added in December 2024 while 20,360 new establishments were brought under the social security ambit of the ESI Scheme during the month, ensuring social security to more workers.