Date:24/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/24/stories/2008052453770600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Machine to drill longest tunnel reaches Srisailam

M. Malleswara Rao

HYDERABAD: Yet another tunnel boring machine (TBM), purchased from an American firm for Rs. 260 crore, has reached Srisailam to drill the country’s longest tunnel (43.5 km) through Nallamala hills. The tunnel will serve as a canal to take Krishna water to Nalgonda district.

Truck drivers performed a feat in moving the 130-metre machine weighing 1,400 tonnes, in pieces from the Chennai Port, negotiating treacherous hairpin curves of the Srisailam ghat road. An action plan has been finalised to assemble the pieces and start drilling a 9.2-metre diameter hole through the hills, a little upstream of the dam.