Activists from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) threw crabs at the home of Maharashtra Minister Tanaji Sawant, a video of which went viral on social media.
#WATCH: NCP workers stage protest and threw crabs outside the residence of Maharashtra Water Conservation Minister Tanaji Sawant in Pune against his statement on Ratnagiri's Tiware dam breach. The Minister had said that crabs were responsible for the breach in the dam. pic.twitter.com/7wbsT8yGIs
— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2019
They were reacting to a statement by Sawant that the dam breach at Tiware on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday was not caused by shoddy repair works, but by excess population crabs in the lake waters and nearby areas.
The breach of Tiware dam, classified as a minor irrigation tank, caused deaths of 25 people, all of whom were washed away in the flood waters, on Wednesday.
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While commenting on the tragedy, the minister in-charge for water conservation department refused to take the blame and stated that water level rose eight meters overnight and it was a calamity. "Presence of crabs in large numbers in the tank was also responsible," he added.
Sawant could not explain how crabs could cause damage to walls of a dam.
Another fact that has come to light in the aftermath of the tragedy is that its work was carried out by the company belonging to the brother of local Shiv Sena legislator Sadanand Chavan.
Reacting to Sawant's claim, NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Sawant was blaming the crabs in order to protect the big fish—Chavan. "The statement made by Sawant is height of shamelessness. He is trying to protect his legislator. But we will not tolerate this. We demand a judicial probe into the Tiware dam tragedy," said Malik.
