Ex Factor: How Congress backed red-faced Nitish Kumar after Rs 389 crore dam collapse

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may have snapped ties with the Congress, but it seems it is the only party that's backing him in face of major embarrassment.

Hours before the inauguration, a portion of a dam in Bhagalpur's Kahalgaon collapsed leaving the state government red-faced.

The 389.31 crore worth Gateshwar Panth Canal Project suffered major blow after the wall broke when the pump was switched on for a trial run on Tuesday.

Even as the RJD slammed the state government and questioned the alleged corruption in making of the dam, Ashok Singh, Congress leader from Bihar backed Water Resources Minister Lallan Singh and blamed the engineers for the collapse.

Congress leader Ashok Choudhary demanded action against the engineers.

He also said that part of the dam was old and collapsed due to pressure from the water.

"The dam broke due to release of water in full capacity. The incident has not caused any damage to the newly constructed part of the project," Lallan Singh had said.

The canal scheme was aimed at providing irrigation facilities in the state and neighbouring Jharkhand.

The canal is a joint scheme of Bihar and Jharkhand, under which 18,620 hectares of land in Bhagalpur would get irrigation facility while 4038 hectares of areas in Godda district of Jharkhand would be irrigated, a government brochure on the project said.

The Rs 389.31 crore project has a total irrigation capacity of 27603 hectares out of which 22816 is in Bihar and 4887 hectares in Jharkhand.

(With PTI input)