The Maharashtra government has suspended 10 chief engineers in connection with the Temghar dam controversy after it was found that the construction of the reservoir wall was faulty.
The construction of the reservoir, one of Pune city’s water lifelines, was acknowledged to be ‘faulty’ by Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan last month following an inspection by him.
On August 18, on Mr. Mahajan’s directives, the police lodged a first information report (FIR) against 34 persons of whom 25 were engineers; 15 of them were dismissed earlier, said Water Resources Department sources.
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Two South India-based construction firms, Srinivas Construction and Progressive Construction have been blacklisted for allegedly using inferior quality material.
Also named in the FIR is Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, owner of Progressive Constructions and a longtime Congress party leader and MP from Andhra Pradesh, who was also a former Union Minister for Textiles. Mr. Rao joined the BJP in 2014.
One of the reasons for the suspension of the engineers appears to be the massive seepage owing to faulty erection of the dam wall, as noted by RTIactivists.
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The purported leakage is estimated to be in excess of 5 crore litres, city-based RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar had earlier estimated. The 87-metre high reservoir, which has a capacity of holding water up to four tmcft, was built between 1997 and 2001, with these two firms completing a major portion of the work.
Temghar, along with Khadakwasla, Varasgaon and Panshet, is one of the four reservoirs located in the Mula-Mutha river sub-basin supplying water to Pune city.