Hyderabad: Stating that the SLBC tunnel incident was unfortunate, Telangana Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy on Friday said that making political statements was not correct.

Addressing the media at the Council premises, Sukhender Reddy said that the state government was taking all necessary measures with the support of the central government. In 2005, this tunnel was handed over to Jayaprakash Company by the previous government. A committee was formed on SLBC during Chandrababu Naidu's tenure, and six members including me were in that committee. The SLBC tunnel was submerged in the floods of 2009 and 2010. After 2014, KCR held a review meeting, and it was decided in the review meeting to start the work. Reviews were held on this tunnel during Harish Rao's tenure as Irrigation Minister. After Harish Rao, the Irrigation Department remained with KCR and then there were no reviews on SLBC.

Sukhender Reddy said that the incidents that occurred during the construction of the project should be seen as accidents, it was not right to look at it in a political angle. Harish Rao has experience as an Irrigation Minister and it is not good to do politics. Government sector experts and emergency teams were continuously working on the incident. It is not right to criticise politically. “I am appealing to the government to give first priority to the ongoing projects and complete them. Land acquisition is the main problem to complete the projects. Central government forces are continuously working in the rescue operation. The state government has not failed anywhere in the rescue,” said Reddy, adding there was no negligence of the government in this incident and accidents were likely when big projects were constructed. “We will complete SLBC no matter how many obstacles we face,” said the Council Chairman.