'What's My Fault?' Over 20 Crabs Make Way Into Maharashtra Minister's Driveway. Here's Why

Workers of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday threw a box full of crabs at the house of Maharashtra’s Water Minister Tanaji Sawant at his residence in Ratnagiri. The incident comes as a protest against recent comments made by the minister where he said that crabs were responsible for the collapse of the Ratnagiri Dam which has killed 20 people so far.

Following heavy rainfall, the Tiware dam in Ratnagiri was breached around 9:30 pm on July 2. Locals said that they informed the district authorities about a leak in the 19-year-old but no actions were taken.

Tanaji Sawant, Shiv Sena’s Water Minister had said that the leak occurred due to the crabs gathered around the dam.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Sawant said, “"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."

This was the second incident of NCP workers protesting against Swant’s comments as last week they marched into the Naupada police station with crabs in hand and urged the officers on duty to arrest the people responsible for the collapse.

The NCP workers were led by general secretary Jitendra Awhad who called the BLD-led government in the state shameless for protecting the contractor responsible for the tragedy. "23 people were washed away, some are still missing, but the minister claims that crabs had weakened the dam," Awhad said.

In another incident in Kolhapur, NCP’s youth workers presented a memorandum to Shahpuri police station, asking them to register a case against crabs.

NCP’s Maharashtra youth wing chief Mehboob Sheikh said, "If the minister thinks crabs caused the breach, then a case should be registered against the crabs under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for murder."

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