Heavy rains in Rajasthan have led to cracks developing on the main wall of a 188-year-old dam. Authorities have asked lakhs of people living in 39 villages of the area to move to safer places, following fears that the dam may collapse. Meanwhile, in West Bengal, West Midnapore district was declared flood-hit as Army units and Air Force helicopters carried out rescue and relief operations in the worst-hit areas, covering a population of about 7.6 lakh.Torrential downpour submerged vast stretches of Orissa’s Balasore and Bhadrak districts affecting around five lakh people after both the Subarnarekha and Baitarani rivers breached their banks.In Rajasthan, the overflowing Jaswant Sagar dam suffered cracks at the bottom of the main wall causing heavy leakage, after which people of Bilara, Luni and Jodhpur tehsils were advised to move out of the possible danger zone. The dam, built in 1889 by Jaswant Singh II, then ruler of Marwar, was overflowing as the rain water from different catchment areas of Merta, Ajmer and Pushkar continued to be collected in it.So far there has been no loss of human life, an official said, observing that maintenance work was not properly conducted since the dam never received enough water. Army personnel and engineers of the irrigation department were already at the site for repairs.
