Breach in canal leaves residential areas inundated in Pune

Several residential areas in Maharashtra's Pune district were inundated after a breach occurred in a wall of the Mutha canal Thursday morning.

No casualty was reported in the incident, the district administration said.

However, there was panic in some of the affected areas where residents claimed that several vehicles were damaged in the sudden flooding.

A breach of nearly 15 metres in the canal's right bank wall around 11 am resulted in water gushing into the Janata Vasahat locality, Dandekar bridge and Sinhgad Road areas, an official in the irrigation department said.

In some areas, water entered into the houses located along the canal, and some roads, including a part of the main Sinhgad Road, were also submerged.

"We immediately stopped the discharge of water from the Khadakwasla dam into the canal. We are working on a war footing to stop the water flow from the canal," the official said.

Efforts were on to shift residents of the affected areas to safer places, a fire brigade official said.

The irrigation department releases water from the Khadakwasla dam, located on the city's outskirts, to the Indapur and Daund tehsils of the district for farming and drinking purposes.

The water released from the reservoir flows through the Mutha canal to these places.