Patna: A ring dam along the Punpun river breached in the early hours of Saturday at Kura Nawada village in Phulwarisharif, Patna, flooding around 25 houses and roads and triggering panic among residents. Villagers blamed the administration for failing to repair the damaged embankment despite repeated complaints.The breach led to an angry confrontation between villagers and irrigation department officials. A junior engineer who reached the spot after the breach was surrounded and held hostage by residents, who raised slogans against the department. Villagers said the embankment had developed a leak several days earlier and they had repeatedly informed officials about it, but no effective repair work was carried out.Information about the junior engineer being held reached Parsa Bazaar police station. SHO Maneka Rani reached Kura Nawada with a police team at around 3 am. Police spoke to the agitated villagers and, after considerable efforts, secured the engineer’s release.Officials assured the villagers that repair work on the breached portion would begin after daybreak. The residents, however, remained angry and questioned the department’s failure to act on their earlier complaints. They demanded immediate repair of the ring dam and action against officials whose alleged negligence had contributed to the flooding.Maneka told this newspaper that around 25 houses in the village were flooded by water from the ring dam. “On Friday night, the dam breached and trapped the villagers inside their house. The police team along with locals safely took them to the safe location. Food and shelter arrangement has been made over the dam, kitchen has been set-up at a house, while the repair work is underway by the engineering team,” the SHO said.The breach also flooded roads in the village, disrupting movement and adding to residents’ difficulties. The sudden inflow of water forced families to move to safer locations as the situation worsened. Police and local residents helped evacuate those trapped inside their homes.
