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MHOW: A portion of Karam dam in MP’s Dhar collapsed on Sunday evening as a channel dug to drain water from the reservoir widened under pressure of the surging water. Thankfully, there were no casualties as around 10,000 people from 18 downstream villages had been evacuated.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan issued a statement saying all is well and the danger has been averted. “You can return home in coordination with the administration,” he told the thousands living in relief camps.
Just a couple of hours before this, he had tweeted a video urging villagers not to return to villages. The administration and villagers were on edge all evening as no one could predict which way the dam water would surge.
The administration sought to portray that everything that happened was part of the plan. Divisional commissioner Pawan Sharma said water hadn’t even entered the evacuated villages whereas there are videos and eyewitness accounts of water entering villages and temples submerged.
Around 10pm, the water reached the last affected village of Jalkota in Khargone and started merging with Narmada river after which the administration breathed a sigh of relief. Water resources minister Tulsiram Silawat has set up a five-member panel to probe the construction. A Delhi-based firm was building the Rs 304-crore dam.
The breach in the dam was noticed on Thursday, sparking panic. After government engineers failed to plug the leak, the Army was called in and around 200 soldiers began working on Saturday to prevent collateral damage.
A channel was dug to release water into Namcha river and on to Narmada. It’s this channel that widened around 6pm on Sunday, sending torrents of water surging downstream.
Eyewitnesses said that floodwaters touched the brim of a four-lane bridge on AgraMumbai NH 30 minutes later. For a while it seemed as if the bridge would be overwhelmed but the water stayed just below it.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan issued a statement saying all is well and the danger has been averted. “You can return home in coordination with the administration,” he told the thousands living in relief camps.
Just a couple of hours before this, he had tweeted a video urging villagers not to return to villages. The administration and villagers were on edge all evening as no one could predict which way the dam water would surge.
The administration sought to portray that everything that happened was part of the plan. Divisional commissioner Pawan Sharma said water hadn’t even entered the evacuated villages whereas there are videos and eyewitness accounts of water entering villages and temples submerged.
Around 10pm, the water reached the last affected village of Jalkota in Khargone and started merging with Narmada river after which the administration breathed a sigh of relief. Water resources minister Tulsiram Silawat has set up a five-member panel to probe the construction. A Delhi-based firm was building the Rs 304-crore dam.
The breach in the dam was noticed on Thursday, sparking panic. After government engineers failed to plug the leak, the Army was called in and around 200 soldiers began working on Saturday to prevent collateral damage.
A channel was dug to release water into Namcha river and on to Narmada. It’s this channel that widened around 6pm on Sunday, sending torrents of water surging downstream.
Eyewitnesses said that floodwaters touched the brim of a four-lane bridge on AgraMumbai NH 30 minutes later. For a while it seemed as if the bridge would be overwhelmed but the water stayed just below it.
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