Mumbai: Twenty-three persons are feared dead after heavy rainfall led to a breach in the Tiware Dam in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra at around 9.30 pm on Tuesday. Bodies of 13 persons have been recovered so far.
The 19-year-old Tiware dam had shown signs of leakages, which was informed to district authorities, locals claimed.
State water resources minister Girish Mahajan has admitted that locals had complained about the cracks on the wall but also said that the irrigation officials had claimed that it was repaired. The Tiware dam had a capacity of 20-lakh cubic meters.
Due to heavy rains, the dam wall breached on Tuesday night and caused a flood-like situation in seven neighbouring villages while 12 houses were swept away.
According to the villagers, they had complained about the cracks to the district administration in November last. Chiplun and Dapoli tehsil offices allegedly ignored the problem.
Relatives of the victims said they had asked district administration to repair the Tiware dam.
“There was an issue over the jurisdiction of which tehsil Tiware dam falls in, as Chiplun and Dapoli tehsil offices had ignored the application of the villagers,” said a family member of one of the dead. “It is only because of their negligence that we have seen this day,” he said.
