CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ HYDERABAD l wednesday l february 26, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late cITY EDITION Breakthrough elusive amid Heavy flow of water, silt into tunnel Despite relentless efforts by Army, Navy, NDRF, and GSI, rescue workers could not reach those trapped inside the collapsed Srisailam tunnel ‘Tunnel collapsed due to tectonic shift’ Experts looking at alternative ways Terming it one of the world’s most complex rescue operations, Telangana’s irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said on Tuesday that there is only one entry or exit to the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel, which is now partially collapsed. He said the collapse might have taken place due to a slight tectonic shift and as some geological fault lines have given way ■ ■ The minister said experts from 11 agencies including the Army, Navy, NDRF, SDRF, GSI, besides rat miners were working round the clock to save the eight workers trapped inside since Saturday morning Experts are now assessing the feasibility of drilling from the top and side of the tunnel — though vertical drilling is a very risky operation 40 metres Of heavy debris, silt & water separate rescue workers and the trapped men 100 hours on, rescue teams continue efforts, make little headway E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad While rescue operations continued nonstop, officials remain clueless about the eight workers trapped inside Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) in Domalapenta in Nagarkurnool district for the past four days. Representatives of 11 agencies have been doing their best to cross the final 40-metre stretch but with little success. Much hope was pinned on the robotic camera to provide some clarity on the situation beyond the huge mound of debris blocking the tunnel where the workers are trapped, but it’s not working inside. Drones too were of no help beyond the tail of the tunnel boring machine (TBM). The TBM is located 13.5 km inside the tunnel. There is no water up to 10.7 km in the 13.85 km long tunnel from Nagar- kurnool side. At 10.95 km, there was water at a height of 1.5 feet, and it is at 2.5 feet at 11.3 km. After four days of toil, the rescue teams have managed to reach only up to 13.79 km. The conveyor belt is on the right-hand side at a height of 5.5 metres and it’s not working. The loco track is accessible up to 12 km. These factors are impeding rescue operations. It may be recalled that the tunnel collapsed at 8.30 am on Saturday and the rescue operations were started the same evening. Of the 50 workers, 42 came out safely and eight remain trapped inside. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy conducted a review on the spot. Uttam later said that ef- forts are on to clear the slush. “Teams from NGRI and GSI were trying to determine the area covered by slush and water. The last 40 metres are covered by water and slush. The slush was located at a height of 15 metres and spread over 200 metres,” Uttam said. He said that the pipeline supplying air was completely damaged near the TBM. According to preliminary estimates, the total volume of slush was 10,000 cubic metres and removing it was a challenging task for the rescue teams. The minister said that the repairs of the conveyor belt would be completed by Thursday. The conveyor could shift 800 tonnes of slush. The seepage was between 3,600 litres and 5,000 litres per hour, the minister confirmed, adding that a dedicated pipeline would be used to remove water and slush.  continued on P2 `2K cr loss Kejri didn’t BioAsia Day-1: TG gets `5.4K cr investments Healthy trend want you to know about E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad A n u p Ve r m a @ New Delhi A report of the national auditor the Kejriwal government failed to table in the Delhi assembly faulted it for a cumula, tive loss of `2,002.68 crore to the exchequer between November 2021 when the new excise policy was rolled out and September 2022, when it was scrapped. This newspaper was the first to report the Delhi excise policy scam. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) that was finally tabled in the House on Tuesday, said the AAP government lost `1,890 crore because of its failure to re-tender surrendered licences. Losses under various other heads included revenue slip of `941.53 crore since retail shops were not opened in nonconforming wards; `144 crore hole due to fee waiver to zonal licensees citing Covid-19 despite the excise department’s advice to the contrary; and `27 crore loss due to the failure to collect proper security deposits from zonal licencees. The report established that the failure to enforce Rule 35 of the Delhi Excise Rules, 2010, resulted in the grant of licences to wholesalers having interests in manufacturing and wholesalers having relationships with retailers. It polluted the entire liquor supply chain with common beneficial ownership across licensees in manufacturing, wholesale and retail. The report pointed out that the wholesaler margin was hiked from 5% to 12%, claiming it was necessary to compensate them for setting up a quality checking system through government-approved labs at warehouses. However, no such labs were set up. Thus, the profit margin of wholesalers shot up, while revenue tanked. The AAP government awarded retail liquor licenses without proper checks on solvency , financial statements, and criminal records. Running a liquor zone required an initial investment of over `100 crore, yet no qualifying financial criteria was set. As a result, licenses were given to financially weak entities, with multiple bidders reporting minimal to zero income in the last three years. Enabling monopolies in the city AAP’s policy forced manufacturers to tie up with a few wholesalers, allowing them to dominate the supply chain. 3 wholesalers (Indospirit, Mahadev Liquors, Brindco) controlled over 71% of supply. So, prices could be artificially inflated Transparency missing in pricing The Excise Department allowed L1 licencees to set their own ex-distillery price for high-priced liquor, leading to price manipulation tharoor row Rahul summons Cong leaders from Kerala PR E E T H A N A IR @ New Delhi AMID the row over Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s opinion piece in this newspaper hailing the development initiatives of the CPM-led gover nment in Kerala, the Congress’ central leadership summoned senior leaders from the state for consultation. According to sources, as many as 27 leaders—including Tharoor—have been called for the meeting, which will likely discuss ways to douse the infighting ahead of crucial local body and assembly polls in the state. The meeting, to take place on Friday will be chaired by , party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi at Indira Bhawan, the new headquarters of All India Congress Committee in New Delhi. Congress Working Committee members from the state Kodikunnil Suresh, Ramesh Chennithala, KPCC president K Sudhakaran, and Opposition leader V D Satheesan will also attend the meeting. 192 brands Supplied by just three wholesalers. It gave them power to decide which brands to push As many as 11 companies signed MoUs with the state government, committing to invest around 5,445 crore in Telangana on Tuesday, the first day of the BioAsia-2025 summit being held at the HICC. These investments will generate 9,800 jobs. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, while inaugurating the summit along with IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu, disclosed that the state government would soon unveil a new Life Sciences Policy, the first in India. Revanth pointed out that pharma villages were being established between Outer Ring Road (ORR) and Regional Ring Road (RRR) to attract more in- Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy after inaugurating BioAsia-2025 Pharma City expansion n  MoUs signed: Granules, Orbicular, Aizant, Biological E, Virchow, Virupaksha, Jubilant, Vimta, Aragen, Bharat Biotech, Sai Life Sciences n  investment: Total `11,100 crore; estimated 22,300+ jobs vestments in the sector, and said: “We hope to create over five lakh new jobs. The Green Pharma City, a key initiative under the Future City project, is progressing rapidly — some Baby trafficking gang busted, 4 kids rescued E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Malkajgiri police on Tuesday arrested 11 persons involved in an interstate child trafficking racket and rescued four infants — two baby girls and two boys — from them. The gang was selling baby boys for `4 lakh and baby girls at `3 lakh at a “profit” of `50,000 on each deal, police said. Shockingly one of those who bought a baby was , an assistant professor at NRI Institute of Technology in Vijayawada. Those involved in selling the babies included a ward boy at Gandhi Hospital and an Asha worker from Hyderabad. Police identified the prime accused as K Krishnaveni and Deepthi, who illegally procured four infants from Vandana of Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The babies were transported with the help of Sunitha Suman and Savitri Devi and were sold to three families in AP and Telangana through mediators Sharada and Sampath Kumar from Hyderabad.  continued on P5 Industry developments n  Agilisium opens office at RMZ Spire; launches Life Sciences & Innovation lab n  Biopharma cGMP testing lab to come up in Genome Valley n  Meishi Pharma (Lotus) establishes its 2nd R&D centre Strategic partnerships n  University of Queensland & TG Life Sciences to collaborate on research, digital healthcare and AI-driven innovations n  Indian Digital Health Activator: TG becomes first hub to accelerate public-private collaboration in digital health n CRDMOs unite to shape industry advancements, 11 regulatory support, talent development n  Health Innovation Manchester & T-Hub join hands of the biggest pharmaceutical c o m p a n i e s h av e s i g n e d MoUs.” He presented the Genome Valley Excellence Award to Professor Patrick Tan from Singapore at the event. The chief minister said that the event would help India emerge as an important player globally in shaping the future of healthcare.  continued on P3 A sniffer dog is taken to the accident spot as rescue operations continued in the SLBC tunnel on Tuesday E x p r e s s Re a d Sajjan Kumar gets life term in 1984 riots case New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Tuesday sentenced former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment for orchestrating the killings of a father-son duo during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Special judge Kaveri Baweja underscored the brutality of the crime but stopped short of awarding the death penalty, citing Kumar’s age. TELUGU compulsory subject from Classes 1 to 10 in all schools across the state affiliated to all boards, implement rule strictly orders chief minister | P2