11 VILLAGES IN MP EVACUATED AFTER LEAKAGE FROM DAM: COLLECTOR

Residents of 11 villages were evacuated and a portion of the Agra-Mumbai highway was closed in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district after water began leaking from an under- construction dam over river Karam due to excessive rainfall. Central India has been receiving heavy rainfall, which was likely to intensify over the next two days.

District collector Pankaj Jain said the leakage worsened due to a mudslide near the dam.

“A large part of an earthen wall has collapsed. The administration is trying to release water by opening the gates of the dam.”

Jain added a team of experts was there to repair the dam.

“Eleven villages downstream have been vacated because if the dam collapses, these villages will get flooded. The road connecting Dhar with Rajasthan has been closed. The traffic on the Agra-Mumbai highway has been diverted. The traffic from Indore has also been stopped.”

Water resource department principal secretary SN Mishra said they were watching the situation from a control room and all the necessary orders have been given to the district officers to deal with the problem.

A video of a resident, Lokesh Solanki, accusing the department of using substandard material for the dam’s construction has gone viral.

“For three months, I have been alerting officers about poor construction work. I submitted a pen drive with all proof to officers in Bhopal but no action has been taken which resulted in seepage,” he is heard saying in the video.

Opposition Congress leader Kamal Nath attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party government over the leakage and called it worrying.