A file photo of the Jaswant Sagar dam

July 8: Two holes that popped open today as water surged in a cracked western Rajasthan dam first sparked panic and then turned saviour.

Flood worries receded this evening as nearly 80 per cent of the excess water in the 118-year-old Jaswant Sagar dam’s reservoir flowed out through the holes and the central crack in its foundation.

“The worst is over,” said Narendra Pratap Gangwar, the district collector who had yesterday said he feared the cracked dam may not be able to stand up to the might of the thousands of cusecs of water.

Gangwar, supervising relief operations in the region, and his colleagues are breathing easier now, because the holes — each a foot wide — are likely to save the dam from collapsing in the days to come.

“Even if it rains again in torrents, the holes will allow the water to flow through, reducing the pressure on the main wall of the dam. The dam in its present state will not hold for ever, but it will last the worst of the rains,” Gangwar told The Telegraph from the dam site, where he has been camping for the past 48 hours.

When the holes were discovered, around 8 this morning, the administration started rushing the evacuation, fearing the dam might collapse any time.

Apart from Jodhpur, evacuation was started from over a hundred villages in the nearby districts of Pali, Barmer and Jalore.

Top state officials went into a huddle in Jodhpur to decide the next course of action.

By late afternoon though, the water flow became steady and it was apparent the holes were proving an outlet for the pent-up fury, rather than a precursor to disaster.

Although the level of the Luni river that the dam rides on had risen because of the increased flow through the holes, the excess water was flowing “strictly” along the river, Kiran Soni Gupta, the district’s divisional commissioner said.

By evening, water levels had started subsiding in some of the villages of Jodhpur and the neighbouring districts.

“We will not move any of the evacuees back to their homes just yet. Let the night pass. By tomorrow morning, the process of returning them home should start,” Gangwar said.

Once the excess water from the reservoir has drained completely, officials of the Rajasthan irrigation department will visit the site. Research and development scientists will then evaluate the damage and start the reconstruction.

“We are also considering eventually blowing up the dam with dynamite and building a new, modern dam in its place,” a senior state irrigation department official said.