https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...maharashtra-minister/articleshow/70085098.cms
Crabs responsible for Tiware dam breach: Maharashtra minister
PTI | Updated: Jul 5, 2019, 12:50 IST
Highlights
- Shiv Sena minister in Maharashtra, Tanaji Sawant, held crabs responsible for the dam burst incident in Ratnagiri
- Sawant said there was huge problem of crabs in the dam and because of that the recent leakages took place
- At least 19 persons were killed in the dam burst incident in Maharashtra
Tiware dam breached near Ratnagiri on July 3
MUMBAI:
Maharashtra minister
Tanaji Sawant has attributed the breach in Tiware dam in Ratnagiri district, which claimed the lives of 18 people, to the weakening of wall by crabs.
Calling the dam breach incident a "natural calamity", the newly-appointed water conservation minister also said whatever is destined to happen, will happen.
Talking to reporters, Sawant on Thursday said officials and locals had informed him that a large number of crabs have weakened the wall of the dam.
"The wall was weakened by a large number crabs and after it was pointed out to the government officials, some remedial measures were taken up," he said.
"The SIT appointed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will come up with its findings soon and we will come to know what exactly went wrong," he said.
The dam, located in Chiplun tehsil, breached late Tuesday night following torrential rains in the coastal Konkan region.
The minister also hinted that the incident could also be a fallout of torrential rains in the dam's catchment area.
"In just eight hours, 192 mm rainfall was recorded in the catchment area of the dam. As per my information, the water level of the dam increased by eight metres in eight hours. The villagers wonder whether it was due to a cloudburst," he said.
But it will eventually be discussed in the committee, the minister added.
"It was a tragedy, but I think you cannot change your fate. Whatever is going to happen, will happen. It was a kind of natural calamity," he said.
When asked about whether the repair works of the dam was shoddy, he said, "We realised it only when water started accumulating in the dam."
Last year, water resources minister Girish Mahajan had stirred up a controversy after he attributed a major breach in the right wall of the Mutha canal in Pune, which had inundated parts of the city, to rats, other rodents and crabs.
"The canal wall caved in as rats, rodents and crabs had been gnawing away at it, burrowing holes in the walls foundation," he had said.
https://indianexpress.com/article/i...s-breach-of-tiware-dam-ratnagiri-ncp-5817410/
Maha minister blames crabs for Tiware dam breach, NCP calls for their ‘arrest’
On Friday, NCP workers, led by party general secretary Jitendra Awhad, walked into the Naupada police station with crabs and urged the cops to "arrest" them.
By
Express Web Desk |New Delhi | Updated: July 5, 2019 8:00:14 pm
NDRF personnel and local trekkers search for people washed away after the Tiware dam in Chiplun breached following heavy rain in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. (Express photo: Arul Horizon)
Maharashtra minister Tanaji Sawant has blamed crabs for weakening the wall of Tiware dam in Ratnagiri district, which claimed the lives of 18 people, prompting the Opposition NCP to call the remark “height of brazenness”.
Calling the dam breach incident a “natural calamity”, the newly-appointed Water Conservation Minister also said whatever was destined to happen, would happen.
“The wall was weakened by a large number crabs and after it was pointed out to the government officials, some remedial measures were taken up. The SIT appointed by Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis will come up with its findings soon and we will come to know what exactly went wrong,” Sawant told reporters.
Several houses in Chiplun taluka of Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra were swept away when the wall of the Tiware dam breached Tuesday night following heavy rain over the last 48 hours.
The Tiware dam, located off the Karad-Chiplun Road, had undergone major repairs just two months ago but around 5 pm Tuesday a minor irrigation tank, constructed only in 2004, started leaking again. Amid the incessant rain, the dam breached around 9.30 pm, flooding seven villages downstream.
Read | Late at night, the shout that saved a family in Maharashtra’s Chiplun: Dam has breached
Alleging that Sawant was “blaming crabs to save a big corrupt fish”, NCP said it bid to protect local
Shiv Sena MLA Sadanand Chavan, who according to media reports, happens to be a contractor of the dam.
On Friday, NCP workers, led by party general secretary Jitendra Awhad, walked into the Naupada police station with crabs and urged the cops to “arrest” them.
“Don’t blame crabs as you defend a big corrupt fish. A judicial probe must be carried out into the entire episode and the guilty MLA must be punished,” NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said.
Lashing out at Sawant, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar asked why did the Shiv Sena leader accept the charge of a minister if he were to blame animals for a tragedy. “When will the
BJP-Shiv Sena ministers accept their failures?” he asked on Twitter.
In Kolhapur, a youth wing of NCP presented a memorandum to Shahupuri police station, demanding registration of a ‘case’ against crabs.
“If the minister thinks crabs caused the breach, then a case should be registered against the crabs under Section 302 of IPC for murder,” NCP state youth wing chief Mehboob Sheikh said.
(With inputs from PTI)