Bhopal: Water filled in haste, states report on Karam dam leak, raises finger at quality of construction

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A four-member team constituted to investigate the quality of construction of Karam dam in Dhar district submitted its report to the government on Sunday, according to sources of water resource department (WRD). The WRD officials refused to comment stating that they were busy handling situation arising due to incessant rain in the state and they would go through the report later.

The report states that there has been negligence at the local level in the construction of the dam. Firstly, there was haste in filling water in the dam. As the dam is high, experienced engineers should have been engaged, which was not done. Although the team has pointed out irregularities in the construction work, it is also being said that several disclosures have been made in the report, which are aimed to give a clean chit to contractor and the officials.

According to sources, the investigation team has pointed out several flaws in the wall of the dam. The soil of dam was black cotton soil, which was not covered with stone and mud from above. There were pebbles in the soil, which caused erosion in soil when the water was filled.

The dam with a capacity of 45 MCM (Million Cubic Metres) was filled till 15 MCM water on August 11. Water started seeping from the sail. The state government then took a decision to drain the water from the dam.

From the night of August 13-14, water was drawn from the side by making a bypass channel. For this, 18 villages of Dhar and Khargone districts were evacuated.

On August 15, the government constituted an investigation team under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Water Resources Department, Ashish Kumar. Additional Chief Secretary SN Mishra said, “I am busy in handling flood situation due to heavy rain. Later on, I will look at report and then I will be able to comment.”