Mumbai: The Congress has alleged that the Tiware dam which suffered a breach Thursday was built by Shiv Sena legislator Sadanand Chavan’s company, Khemaraj.
The party has demanded that a case be registered against the company for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of the IPC and a case be registered against the government for negligence and apathy under section 302 of the IPC.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said that any dam had a codallife of 100 years but the Tiware dam had collapsed in just 14 years, exposing the quality of material used for civil works by the contractor.
Due to the breach in Tiware dam in the Chiplun taluka of Ratnagiri, at least 13 persons lost their lives. The dam developed a breach late Tuesday night, causing a flood-like situation in seven downstream villages. Twenty-three persons were feared dead while the bodies of 13 had been recovered so far.
Mr Wadettiwar said that the state government and local administration should be held responsible for negligence. The villagers had been complaining about the dam for the past several months. He questioned how the dam suffered a breach if it had been repaired. “The government is responsible for the deaths of the people, hence, a case under section 302 of the IPC should be registered,” he added.
Attacking irrigation minister Girish Mahajan, Mr Wadettiwar said that Mr Mahajan was busy wooing leaders of other parties into the party fold and had not taken care of the dam. He demanded Mr Mahajan’s resignation on moral grounds.
The Asian Age tried to contact Sena legislator Sadanand Chavan, but he did not respond to calls or text messages.
