Maha Minister admits sub-standard work in construction of dam

Mumbai, Aug 18 (PTI) Maharashtra Water Resources MinisterGirish Mahajan today said contractors, who constructed thegravity-based Temghar dam, which has started developingserious leakages, will be taken to task. "The government would recover the damages caused from thecontractors Ms Progressive constructions and Ms Srinivasaconstructions," Mahajan told reporters at the stateSecretariat here. "The contractors had given an assurance on affidavit thatthey would bear the cost of any damages to the dam," said theMinister. "The dam has been constructed using sub-standard qualitymaterial. Soon after the reports about the leakage surfaced Iordered an inquiry and asked the department to submit adetailed report," Mahajan said, adding to plug the leakages,the government will require Rs 103 crore. The Temghar dam, is an earth-fill, gravity-based dam onthe Mutha river near Mulshi in Pune district. It is one of thedams which supplies water to the Pune city. Fears were raised about the possibility of a dam burstlike the Panshet dam in Pune district in 1961. Construction work on the Temghar dam began in 1997 and itwas completed in 2012 at a cost of Rs 237 crore. Temghar dam has a total storage capacity of 3.71 TMC. As per the Minister, orders have been issued to filecriminal cases against the contractors and officials. Mahajan further said if the contractors were found to bestill engaged in any construction activity their work will bestopped immediately. "Since the contractors had not applied for renewal oftheir licenses and hailed from Andhra Pradesh, it is difficultto blacklist them," he said. Meanwhile, Mahajan clarified that Pune-based builderAvinash Bhosale was not involved in the construction of thedam. PTI MM NRBIKAJMF