4 engineers suspended for dam breach

Bhopal, Sep 2: Four engineers of the Irrigation department have been suspended following three metre breach in the embankment of the Piplai dam in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district, official sources said.

No loss of life was reported in the dam breach yesterday as residents of three villages had already been shifted to Raisen town following detection of leakage three days ago.

Bhopal Commissioner K K Singh has suspended Executive Engineer Jawaharlal Gandhi, Assistant Engineers Sunil Sethi and A K Saxena and Sub-Engineer S R Satarkar.

An inquiry has been ordered to assess the cause of the breach.

Chief Engineer N R Khare will head the inquiry team, while Director Dam Safety and hydrology expert R C Maheshwari will assist in the inquiry, official sources said.

Sources said efforts to plug the leak did not succeed and the dam breached. Due to outflow from the dam, water level in Betwa river was on the rise and the villages on river bank had been evacuated.

At least four villages in Vidisha district had been marooned. Rain water entered many low lying areas in Vidisha town and the affected had been shifted to safer places. The situation was improving with let up in rains since last night.

After many years, gates of major dams near Bhopal like Bhadbhada, Kerwa, Kaliasot and Kolar had been opened to release excess water. Gates of Bargi Dam, Tawa dam and Indira Sagar dam on the Narmada river had also been opened.

UNI