Shivraj Singh Chouhan takes steps to tackle dam breach, Opposition seeks probe

Dhar (MP), August 14

Days after a breach was detected in the wall of an under-construction dam on the Karam river in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, a channel was dug up to drain out water from it to prevent the possibility of it bursting, officials said on Sunday.

CM Shivraj Chouhan said there was no need to worry and efforts were on to drain out water from the reservoir. He also termed the steps taken after the dam breach detection as the “finest example of disaster management”.

However, the opposition Congress alleged corruption in the dam project and demanded a judicial probe into the incident. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) sought the resignation of Water Resources Minister Tulsi Silawat “on moral grounds” and also demanded a probe into the contract given to a “corrupt” firm for the construction of the dam.

The breach in the dam, located some 35 km from the Dhar district headquarters, was reported on Thursday, after which an alert was sounded as 18 villages downstream, including 12 in Dhar and six in Khargone, were in danger of getting inundated, officials had earlier said.

Leader of the Opposition in MP Assembly Govind Singh demanded a judicial probe into the dam leak. The Congress leader alleged that there was corruption in many projects in the state. —