Mumbai, July 3: Chiplun Taluka in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra is undergoing an unfortunate casualty as a small dam in Tiware village breached last night that washed away several houses in the Taluka. Until now around 25 people are reported to be missing and at least 6 people have lost their lives. Although the incident is being attributed to heavy rains, locals are raising voice against the irresponsibleness of the local administration.
Rescue operation is underway through NDRF, local police, district disaster management cell, fire brigade and local villagers. As per the information given by the Ratnagiri Police, the dam breached around 10pm yesterday night and before villagers downstream could be alerted, the dam developed a rupture flooding around seven villages including Ovali, Riktoli, Aakle, Dadar, Nandivane, and Kalakavane.
Attributing the incident to heavy rains doesn’t seem logical as heavy rains is not new to Konkan. There needs a careful analysis of what exactly caused the dam to breach. The construction of the dam with the capacity of 0.08 TMC was completed in the year 2000 so the dam is just 19 years old. The water discharged from the dam goes to the creek of Vashishthi river in Chiplun. Local people are saying that they had observed the cracks on the dam and had informed the concerned government officials well before about the water blockage in the dam in rainy days. They also inform that the maintenance of the dam has been utterly neglected since last many years and there was nobody from government side to look after the condition of the dam. The dam was overflowing since last evening. Hence, there needs a careful investigation of the real causes of the dam breach.