Dam ‘cracks ignored’, breach kills 23 The bodies of 11 people have been recovered so far

The Tiware dam in Ratnagari that breached following incessant rains on Wednesday 

PTI, TT, Mumbai ,  4 July 2019 : Twenty-three people are feared dead after a dam in Maharashtra’s coastal Konkan region, in which cracks had been reported months ago but not repaired, breached following heavy rain and flooded villages downstream, officials said on Wednesday.

The bodies of 11 people have been recovered so far, a police officer said. The total toll would be around 23, he added.

The Tiware dam at Chiplun taluka in Ratnagiri district has a storage capacity of 20 lakh cubic metres. It developed a breach late on Tuesday night, a district official said. The breach caused a flood-like situation in seven downstream villages, with 12 houses being swept away.

“So far, 11 bodies have been recovered,” said additional superintendent of police, Ratnagiri, Vishal Gaikwad. The police have moved many villagers to safety, he added.

Relatives of the victims said they had asked the district administration to repair the dam as they had spotted cracks in November last year. They alleged that officials of the tehsils in Chiplun and Dapoli had cited jurisdiction to deflect their plea.

“It is only because of their negligence that we had to see this day,” a man whose family members are missing said. “My parents, wife and one-and-a-half-year-old child are missing. My brother, who had gone to bring his vehicle, did not return,” he added.

Maharashtra water resources minister Girish Mahajan said villagers in the area had complained of cracks in the dam. “The dam was built 14 years ago. The state government will find out at which level there was negligence and necessary action will be taken,” he said.

The homes that have been washed away will be rebuilt at safe places, Mahajan promised. A compensation of Rs 4 lakh will be given to the kin of each of the deceased, he added.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered an inquiry. “The reason for the breach will be probed and action taken against the guilty expeditiously,” he said.

As the rain subsided in Mumbai on Wednesday, schools and colleges reopened and lakhs of commuters clambered on to overcrowded trains to make a perilous journey to work. The water receded from several parts of the city.

The heavy rush of passengers in the morning peak hours prompted Central Railway to revoke its decision to operate fewer trains in Mumbai.

Around 75 flights were cancelled at Mumbai airport on Wednesday following the closure of the main runway after a SpiceJet plane skidded and overshot two days ago.

Baby survives

When the wall collapsed in Mumbai and the gushing water washed away everything in its path, six-month-old Ayush Sharma got separated from his parents.

The little one, who lived in a shanty next to the 20ft-high wall in Malad that collapsed on Tuesday following incessant rain, was found alive and unhurt half a kilometre away.

As the accumulated water on the other side of the wall in Pimpripada surged into the shanties, Ayush’s parents had tried to stay together.

“We were asleep. Before we could understand anything, we found ourselves being washed away by a sudden flow of water. My wife and I tried to hold on to each other and our child, but could not because of the strong current. We got separated,” Ayush’s father Uttam Sharma, 25, said.

“Luckily, Ayush was found alive…. My wife also survived,” he added.