Dam-burst would have washed away three villages in Gujarat

Dam-burst would have washed away three villages in Gujarat
JANYALA SREENIVAS

AHMEDABAD, JULY 8: The foolhardiness of overenthusiastic engineers of the state Irrigation Department in Junagadh nearly led to a disaster that could have claimed the lives of at least 1,500 people.

They filled up an untested dam, and it developed several breaches. Had the dam-gates not been opened in time, the 500 million cubic feet water would have burst the dam and wiped out three villages downstream.

The Kharo dam on Geda rivulet, near Bantwa, was constructed in 1998, but it could not be tested because there were no rains, last year. Last week, when it rained nearly 10 inches in 24 hours in the region, the Irrigation Department sealed all the gates of the dam.

An Irrigation Department team, headed by executive engineer P J Kakadia and junior engineer B M Kodinaria, was supposed to monitor the water-flow into the dam and open the gates when the water-level reached 13.20 metres. Instead, they let the level rise over 15.30 metre.

As a result, the masonry structure developed five-feet wide breaches. ``It was a terrifying moment. There were four or five big holes. Water was gushing out from them and also from below the dam on Wednesday,'' recollects Manavadar Mamlatdar D R Patel.

``It was a dangerous situation. Had the dam burst, the villages downstream would have washed away,'' said Patel. There are three villages downstream -- Samnega, Khodvav and Atlera -- with a population of about 1,500.

Naturally, the officers are shocked. Remarked Junagadh Collector Sunayana Tomar, ``How can a two-year-old unused dam spring leaks? Obviously, the construction was of poor quality. And why did the irrigation officials fill it upto the brim without conducting the strength tests?''

The Irrigation Department in Junagadh, however, would have one believe that nothing unusual happened. Executive engineer Kakadia claims there were no breaches at all and ``the water was leaking from the gates''. So why was the dam emptied? ``We had to conduct some minor repairs. Sso we opened the gates,'' he claimed.

Unconvinced by the explanations of the department officials, the Junagadh collector has ordered an inquiry, which would be conducted by the Manavadar Mamlatdar.

The dam-design had been approved by the C-I masonry dams design unit at Gandhinagar. It was constructed by a company, Backbone Construction. Sources in the district administration said the dam already had cracks and a colony of mice had made burrows at its base.

The 183-metre-long dam, with five km-long mud-bunds on either side, was built at a cost of Rs 12 crore to cater to the drinking and irrigation water demands of the twin-towns of Manavadar and Bantwa, and the nearby cotton-growing belt of Junagadh district.

According to a flood memorandum of the Irrigation Department, tests should be conducted on new dams at the fag-end of the monsoon when not much of rain is expected. ``Normally, what was done last week should have been done either in September or October,'' officials said.