Irrigation department officials immediately stopped further discharge of water from the Khadakwasla dam following the breach Parts of Pune city were inundated on Thursday following a major breach in the right wall of the Mutha canal, causing damage to homes situated along the Mutha riverfront area. Rescue teams and Fire department authorities, who rushed to the spot said there was no loss of life and that all people who were in harm’s way had been evacuated. According to authorities, the wall of the canal’s right bank caved in sometime after 10:30 a.m. in the morning, leading to flooding inside hundreds of shanties and slums in the city’s Parvati area, affecting more than 5,000 residents living in these parts. “The situation is under control now. The flow of water reduced by late noon,” said a fire department official. Irrigation department officials immediately stopped further discharge of water from the Khadakwasla dam — one of Pune’s lifelines — to the canal following the breach and said the matter was being investigated. Angry residents Angry residents surrounded Pune Mayor Mukta Tilak when she visited the homes of those afflicted. “All our utensils and savings have flown away. If this had occured at night, it might have led to great loss of life. The city’s politicians only come to us for votes during election time, but are least bothered in maintaining any infrastructure,” said an irate resident. Ms. Tilak however said that the Pune civic body had, in the pas,t warned the Irrigation Department authorities about repairing the canal wall, but the Irrigation authorities allegedly failed to take cognizance of it. “The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will do everything to provide respite to those afflicted by this incident. We will make provisions for lodging those residents in temporary homes whose shanties have been destroyed by the discharge. We will make sure they are recompensed,” said Mayor Tilak. Smaller mud homes and tin-shed shanties across a 12-km stretch from the areas around the Khadakwasla dam to the Dandekar bridge were hit by the breach. Police personnel, who rushed to the spot, stopped traffic along the Dandekar bridge which remained submerged owing to the sudden flooding. “This is sheer negligence on part of authorities. The canal wall caved in owing to the tremendous force of the discharge from the Khadakwasla dam. The discharge has been going on at the rate of an excessive 1200 cusecs of water for more than a month. The question arises as to who authorized this discharge which could have proven fatal,” said noted city-based environmentalist and RTI activist Vivek Velankar, speaking to The Hindu. Demanding an explanation from the irrigation authorities for the sheer lack of maintenance of the structure, Mr. Velankar noted that the decision to release water was all the more mystifying as the city’s water needs were satisfied for the moment and the rains had stopped. “Currently, the city requires only 300 cusec of water to fulfill the needs of those living in the Cantonment area. So, what was the motive behind this excess discharge which put strain on the canal walls?” he said. The 140 km-long Mutha canal built during the period of the British Raj, which conveys the water from the Khadkwasla dam to Indapur tehsil, has scarcely been subject to audits on part of the State of civic body authorities. “This incident clearly proves the lack of any frequency audits to check the condition of the canal wall. The prime reason for this negligence is the eternal conflict between the State Irrigation Department and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) with both bodies passing the buck when it comes to maintenance of any structure,” said RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar, speaking to The Hindu.<doc-sep>The water entered the roads and low-lying areas near Dandekar Bridge in Pune. (Photo: Twitter/sahilkhurana09) Pune's Dandekar bridge area near Parvati Hill has been flooded with water. The flooding was witnessed all over roads and houses in low-lying areas near Parvati Hill. The side wall made up of mudstones and concrete at the Mutha bank canal was washed up and seems to have caused the flooding. The water from Khadakwasla Dam was stopped by the irrigation department after two hours of water overflowing on the roads. The disaster management team of Pune Municipal Corporation said that the repairing process will start soon. A social media user also shared a video of how the water has flooded the roads near Dandekar Bridge. Here's the video:<doc-sep>
A breach in a wall of the Mutha canal leads to inundation of a number of residential areas in Maharashtra's Pune district | Photo Credit: Twitter Pune: A breach occurred in a wall of the Mutha canal on Thursday morning, leading to inundation of a number of residential areas in Maharashtra's Pune district. The district administration, meanwhile, said that there was no casualty in the incident. However, people in the affected areas were left in a panic mode after the sudden flooding. Several vehicles were damaged too. An official in the irrigation department, meanwhile, said that a breach of almost 15-metre width in the canal's right bank wall at around 11 am led water flow into Dandekar bridge and Sinhgad Road areas and also into the Janata Vasahat locality. In fact, water gushed into the houses in some of the areas along the canal. A part of the main Sinhgad Road, as well as other roads too, were submerged. "We immediately stopped the discharge of water from the Khadakwasla dam into the canal. We are working on a war footing to stop the water flow from the canal," the official said. The administration is trying to shift residents of the affected areas to safer places. Here are a few pictures shared by Twitterati: Water from the Khadakwasla dam, which is located on the outskirts of Pune, is released to the Indapur and Daund tehsils of the district for the purposes of farming and drinking. The water released flows through the Mutha canal.