National Congress Party (NCP) leader Jitendra Awhad reached Naupada police station with other party members, carrying live crabs in their hands to mark the protest against Maharashtra Government over Water Conservation Minister Tanaji Sawant's statement saying 'a large number of crabs' being the reason behind the breach in Ratnagiri's Tiware dam, on Friday.
"Shameless government leader blamed crabs behind the breach in the dam, nobody is asking them to take all the responsibility regarding the incident but atleast don't put the blame on someone who cannot be held accountable for anything," Awhad said.
"If a few rich people would have died in this incident, the government would have definitely done something at the soonest. But some people went missing and died in this incident, why would the government even bother about them?" he added.
Earlier in the day, NCP workers staged a protest against Maharashtra Government and reached Shahupuri police station in Kolhapur, holding live crabs and demanded to register an FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 302 (murder) against crabs.
"There were no leakages earlier. Leakage happened after a large number of crabs gathered around the dam. Locals brought the issue to our notice and our department acted on it. The incident is unfortunate," Sawant told media on Friday.
On being asked if the construction was weak, the minister said that he came to know the shoddy construction work from the farmers and villagers of the area.
The death toll reached 19 in Ratnagiri's Tiware Dam breach incident as one more body was recovered during the search operation, which resumed on Friday morning. The search operation was restarted by the police and the National Disaster Force (NDRF) this morning as several more people are feared dead in the incident, an official said.
The Tiware dam developed a breach on the night of July 3 due to heavy rains. The breach caused a flood-like situation in seven downstream villages. According to police, villagers have been moved to safer places and the situation is under control now.
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