Bokaro, March 3: A 50ft breach in the Tenughat-Bokaro Steel canal near Jhajhako village, 39km from here, has disrupted water supply to the city and triggered suspicion of sabotage.

Bokaro Steel stopped water supply after the breach was reported. For the next 48 hours, officials said, water supply would occur once in 24 hours from the steel plant’s cooling pond. If the breach is not plugged by then, the crisis could worsen.

The breach was noticed around 4am on Tuesday when villagers in and around Jhajhako noticed water in the fields. Engineers from Ranchi were called in and after several hours of work, the sluice gates of Tenughat dam was closed this morning to cut water supply.

Water resources department engineers said the breach was manmade. Executive engineer of water resources department Sunil Kumar Singh said: “The sudden breach at 4am clearly proves that some sabotage has occurred.”

Maoists could have been involved or some people created the breach with hopes of bagging the repair contract, he said, adding that it would take another 72 hours for restoration of water supply.

However, the villagers said poor maintenance caused the breach, which was the first since the canal was constructed in 1970. The villagers pointed out several places along the canal that they said were poorly maintained.

For 38 years, Bokaro Steel has been paying crores of rupees every year to the water resources department for maintenance of this 40km canal from Tenughat dam to the city.

The chief of communications of Bokaro Steel, Sanjay Tewary, said due to proper water management adopted by the plant, they can cater to the needs of the citizens for 48 hours. This would be possible only by supplying water for an hour every 24 hours.

“The rest is up to the water resources officials, who have been given the maintenance job of the 40km canal and an annual contract has been signed long ago,” added Tewary.