Shiv Sena minister Tanaji Sawant on Thursday held crabs responsible for for the Tuesday Ratnagiri dam burst incident that has claimed 18 lives so far.
The dam was built in 2004 and there were no breaches ever. However, there is a huge problem of crabs in that dam and because of that the recent leakages took place," the Maharashtra Water Conservation Minister explained while interacting with the media persons.
"Two days before, there was a massive downpour in that region, with a rainfall of 192 mm which raised the dam water level by 8 metres in just eight hours," Sawant further said terming the tragedy as a 'huge calamity'.
The minister further said that the government was informed by the residents of Bhendewadi hamlet of the problems of breaches and the officials had taken action on it.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party national spokesperson Nawab Malik termed it as "a shameful defence of Shiv Sena as the legislator is the contractor for the dam".
"You want to save a big, corrupt shark and blaming poor crabs? This cannot be tolerated. There must be an inquiry and he must be punished," demanded Malik.
"When the crabs were gnawing away at the dam, did he (Minister) go there for underwater shooting? This is the limit of playing around with the peoples" sentiments," Suhas Khandagale, chief of the Village Development Committee of Ratnagiri said.
