06 July,2019 04:45 PM IST | | mid-day online desk
Sharad Pawar
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief chief Sharad Pawar will visit the site of breached Tiware dam in Ratnagiri
district of Maharashtra on July 8. At least 18 people have died in the floods triggered by the breach on Tuesday night in the wake of torrential rains while five others went missing.
Pawar, who will be touring Pune, Satara and Ratnagiri districts over the next two days, will visit the dam site on Monday and will also meet the kin of the victims, according to a party statement. The NCP has already demanded a judicial probe into the incident and action against "guilty" officials and public representatives concerned.
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Earlier, commenting on the Tiware dam incident, suggesting a bizarre theory, Shiv Sena Minister in Maharashtra, Tanaji Sawant said that crabs are responsible for the dam burst incident in Ratnagiri which has claimed 18 lives so far. While speaking to the media, the Water Conservation Minister claimed that there were no breaches in the ill-fated Tiware Dam earlier with the reservoir storing water for the past 15 years.
"The dam was built in 2004 and there were no breaches ever... However, there is a huge problem of crabs in that dam and because of that the recent leakages took place," Sawant explained, reports IANS. The state minister states the incident as a "huge calamity" and said that 2 days before the incident, there was a massive downpour in that region, with a rainfall of 192 mm which raised the dam water level by 8 metres in just eight hours.
Sawant further said that the government was informed by the residents of Bhendewadi hamlet of the problems of breaches and the officials had taken action on it. In the meanwhile, taking a dig at the Sena minister Sawant, Nationalist Congress Party national spokesperson Nawab Malik termed Sawant's statement as "a shameful defence of his party (Shiv Sena) legislator who is the contractor for the dam."
With inputs from PTI
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