Hyderabad, Feb 24: Teams engaged in the operation to rescue eight trapped workers from an under-construction tunnel which collapsed on Saturday in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district, received no response when they called out names of the trapped men, state Minister Jupally Krishna Rao admitted.

The Excise and Tourism Minister, who went inside the tunnel to have a closer look at the rescue operation, told media persons that the rescue workers called out names of the men who were trapped in the tunnel after a portion of the roof collapsed on Saturday. “Unfortunately, there was no response to these calls,” he said.

Krishna Rao, who along with Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy is supervising the rescue operation, said the rescue teams were very close to the point where the accident happened.

The minister described the situation inside the tunnel as horrifying and admitted that the chances of survivors are very remote. “Things do not look hopeful,” he said.

Krishna Rao said since the end of the tunnel was visible, he believes the chances of finding the trapped men alive are very remote.

The minister said though the rescue teams were very close to the spot, muck and debris were hampering their efforts.

Meanwhile, Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and former minister K. Jana Reddy reviewed the situation at the tunnel on Monday.

Venkat Reddy expressed the hope that trapped men will be rescued by the teams engaged in the operation for 48 hours. “We have hopes. In Uttarakhand, 41 workers were rescued from a tunnel after 17 days,” he said.

The minister said the government was taking help of experts from various agencies both in India and abroad for the rescue operation.

Multiple teams of the Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) and the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) were engaged in the operation.

Two teams of construction major Larsen & Toubro with advanced equipment on Monday joined the rescue efforts.

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

Nagarkurnool district Collector Badavath Santosh said the rescue teams had to cover a distance of another 40 metres 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.

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

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.

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.

Former Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Monday slammed trolls for doubting cricketer Mohammed Shami and writer Javed Akhtar’s patriotism because of their religion during the India vs Pakistan match in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.

Taking to X, Aaditya wrote, “The worst of where our andh bhakts are taking our country to.”

“Doubting Shami and Javed Akhtar ji on their patriotism because of their religion. Both proud Indians, contributing actively to Indian glory through their own skill,” he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) pointed out that BJP leader and former union minister Anurag Thakur was spotted watching the match with former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi, who has been “outspokenly anti-Bharat.”

“But the same trolls are too afraid to speak on a BJP leader and former minister who sat with a cricketer who has been outspokenly anti-Bharat. The very same former minister whose party tells every other opposition member to ‘go to Pakistan’ and this minister screams ‘desh ke gaddaron ko’ on the streets,” he said.

Highlighting both incidents, he questioned, “Aaj desh ka gaddar kaun hai?”

Aaditya further said that if the politician was from any party other than the BJP, it would have resulted in FIRs, protests, being called anti-India, and being told to go to Pakistan.

Targeting BJP for its ‘divisive’ politics, he said, “Sadly, this is what the BJP’s philosophy is – create divisions within our own country, make us fight within our own country – divide Hindus and Muslims – so that BJP can win. But their bosses and boss’s families can chill, party with those from Pakistan, especially those who have been openly anti-India.”

Upping his attack on the BJP, he said “this is the same BJP-run BCCI that played cricket with Bangladesh (in an informal tournament by invitation) when the BJP’s social media ecosystem and media told us that Hindus in Bangladesh faced violence.”

“BJP now is: Elections done, Hindus forgotten, Patriotism forgotten. Or is it ‘time please’ for BJP from patriotism,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA said.

“When they teach you patriotism and Hindutva again, show them this photo of their leader enjoying the match with the anti-India cricketer and ask the BJP if they are ok with this? My Patriotism and Hindutva is clear: respect mine, I respect yours. But no compromise with hate – of any kind, from anyone,” he concluded his post with these remarks.

Along with the post, Aaditya shared several screenshots in which trolls targeted Javed Akhtar and Mohammed Shami over their religious beliefs. He also shared a picture of Anurag Thakur and Shahid Afridi and a screenshot of a news article about Shahid Afridi’s anti-India remarks.

New Delhi, Feb 24: Tokyo Olympic silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has said that she is feeling honoured to join the ‘fight against obesity’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Monday, PM Modi, highlighting the urgent need to combat rising obesity rates, nominated ten prominent individuals to champion the cause of reducing edible oil consumption. He also urged them to nominate 10 more people to further expand the movement.

“As mentioned in yesterday’s #MannKiBaat, I would like to nominate the following people to help strengthen the fight against obesity and spread awareness on reducing edible oil consumption in food,” PM Modi wrote on X while tagging Anand Mahindra, Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’, Manu Bhaker, Mirabai Chanu, Mohanlal, Nandan Nilekani, Omar Abdullah, Madhavan, Shreya Ghoshal and Sudha Murty.

“I also request them to nominate 10 people each so that our movement gets bigger! Collectively, let us make India fitter and healthier. #FightObesity,” the post further read.

“I am extremely honoured to be nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spread awareness in the fight against obesity. This is a major health concern that can be eliminated by making the right lifestyle choices and choosing to be active, healthy and fit. We need India to move in this direction to support and enhance our growth journey,” Mirabai said.

“Making small changes to our daily lives can result in a huge transformations for the country and help us move towards achieving our dream of making a Fit India,” she added.

As a part of the initiative, the star weightlifter further nominated world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju, London Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal, London 2012 bronze medal-winning shooter Gagan Narang, former hockey captains Rani Rampal & Manpreet Singh, tennis great Leander Paes, two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu, paddler Manika Batra, Paris 2024 bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh and two-time Paraympic champion shooter Avani Lekhara.

During an address in the 119th Episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, PM Modi discussed rising cases of obesity and said, “To become a fit and healthy nation, we will certainly have to deal with the problem of obesity. According to a study, one in every eight people today is troubled by the problem of obesity. Cases of obesity have doubled in the past years, but, what is even more worrying is that the problem of obesity has increased fourfold even among children. WHO data shows that in 2022, about 250 crore people around the world were overweight; that is, they had more weight than required.”

“We can together deal with this challenge with minor efforts. For example, one method I suggested was ‘reducing the consumption of edible oil by ten per cent’. Decide that you will use 10 per cent less oil every month. You can decide that while buying oil for cooking, you will buy 10 per cent less oil. This will be an important step towards reducing obesity,” he added.