MH-DAM-OPPN

Minister blaming crabs for dam burst to save `corrupt fish':
NCP
    Mumbai, Jul 5 (PTI) Opposition parties Friday
lambasted Maharashtra minister Tanaji Sawant for claiming that
crabs caused the Tiware dam breach, in which 18 people lost
their lives, with the NCP alleging he is "blaming crabs to
save a big corrupt fish".
    Among others, Sawant, the Water Resources Minister,
had Thursday also said that the dam breached following a
"natural calamity" and added whatever is destined to happen
will happen.
    NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Sawant, a Shiv
Sena leader, blaming crabs for the breach was "height of
brazenness".
    The dam, located in Chiplun tehsil of coastal
Ratnagiri district, breached late Tuesday night amid
torrential rains, flooding seven downstream villages.
    Malik accused Sawant of protecting local Shiv Sena MLA
Sadanand Chavan, who according to media reports, happens to be
a contractor of the dam.
    "Don't blame crabs as you defend a big corrupt fish. A
judicial probe must be carried out into the entire episode and
the guilty MLA must be punished," Malik said.
    Hitting out at Sawant, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar
asked why did the Shiv Sena leader accept charge of a minister
if he were to blame animals for the tragedy.
    "When will the BJP-Shiv Sena ministers accept their
failures?" he asked on Twitter.
    Congress leader Sachin Sawant said the Sena minister
should be "ashamed of himself".
    Another minister Vijay Shivtare, also of the Shiv
Sena, was accompanying his Cabinet colleague Sawant when the
latter made the remarks.
    Noting that, Sachin Sawant said, "Poor people died due
to Tiware dam breach, but (the minister) is blaming nature.
Another minister (Shivtare) is nodding.
    "Such a thick-skinned approach is serious," the
Congress leader tweeted. PTI ENM
RSY RSY

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from a PTI feed.)