(Feature Image: Damaged Sadsa Luti dam in Balrampur)
A flash flood disaster caused by a significant breach in Luti dam bund has killed six people while one remained missing in Dhaneshpur village near Vishram Nagar under Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh. Six of the flood victims are members of a single family living about 500 meter downstream from the dam area. About eleven villagers were swept away by strong current of waters. Some of them managed to save their lives by holding on to trees and swimming to their safety. Three persons also suffered injuries in this dam induced flood incident.
The deluge has left 4 homes severely damaged and a destruction trail behind which included washing away over 60 cattle, 1 road, 2 small bridges and destroying crops over 25 acres of agricultural. The dam structure has also been damaged and is lying in totally drained out condition. The impact the flood and ground situation after the disaster can be seen here.
The dam was already overflowing for couple of days before the breaching away amid ongoing rains in the region over few days. On the night of Sept 2, 2025 between 09:00-09:30 pm, the wall of the dam developed about 35 meter wide breach flooding the downstream Dhaneshpur village. Seepage started from the dam since the morning of Sept. 2 and cracks were spotted along 500 meter area of dam’s wall.
The deceased included 3 women – Batshiya (65) and her two daughters in law Chinta (35), Ranjati (28) who were pregnant and Batshiya’s grandchildren Kartik (6) and Priya (9). They were sleeping in the home when swept away by the sudden deluge. Two dead bodies were found same night, two on Sept. 3 and one on Sept. 4. The sixth body of Jitan Singh (52) was found after four days of the incident in a farmland about 1 km away from his home. The body of Vandna Singh (3) daughter of Ranjati was still missing.
The dam was brimful in last week of August and concerned villagers had informed the officials of Water Resource Department (WRD) about it. On August 27, some WRD officials had visited the dam and photographed it. Due to rainfall, the dam had started overflowing two days before the incident but the WRD officials did not inspect the overflowing dam despite information given by the villagers.
The dam remained without maintenance work for 17 years. It was last maintained in 2007-08 under MGNREGA. A maintenance proposal for the dam submitted in 2020-21 remained unapproved.
The Irrigation Department has blamed heavy rainfall causing dam’s overflow as reason behind the collapse. The villagers and former MLA have alleged negligence on the part of WRD for not attending to complaints about its seepages and overflowing condition. The former MLA claimed that the dam was suffering seepages for past two years. There were seepages in the dam about a decade back also which were fixed at that time. A team from Raipur will reportedly investigate the incident.
Afte the incident, the Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai chaired a review meeting on Sept. 4 with WRD officials in Raipur and directed WRD to give special attention to the maintenance & repair of irrigation projects and assess the water storage capacity of all dams. He stressed strict compliance with the provisions of the Dam Safety Act, 2021 and called for effective coordination with district administrations.
The Chief Minister expressed deep displeasure over the breach of the Lutti dam, stating that field-level officers were failing to conduct regular site inspections, which had led to the incident. Issuing a stern warning, he said such a mistake will not be tolerated under any circumstances in the future. He directed all officials to continuously visit the field and ensure regular inspection of dams and other related structures.
The government on Sept. 3, provided immediate compensation of ₹2.57 lakh to flood victims. However, the people from Khairwar community on Sept. 7, blocked the National Highway at Tatapani demanding adequate compensation and government jobs for the family members of the flood victims. They again blamed WRD and administration for the disaster by ignoring dam’s maintenance and seepages. After assurance from SDM to consider their demands, they ended the blockade but warned to protest again if the demands were not fulfilled.
About Luti Dam: The earthen dam – also known as Sadsa Luti, Lutti, Lutiya, Satbahni Lutti – was built in 1982 in Surguja division on Upka nullah a stream joining Kanhar river about 4km downstream near Jharkhand border in Ganga basin. The Satbahni waterfalls originating from Ramchura hills behind the dam also drains into it. As per India WRIS, it is 690 meter long with 16.96 meter maximum height from the foundation. It has 0.44 MCM storage capacity and is spread over 74 ha. It provides irrigation to about 462 acres.
Cracks in Saketwa Dam The embankment of Saketwa dam, another dam in the same district developed deep cracks in the last week of July 2025. The incident happened due to heavy rainfall making the dam brimful, presenting collapse threats and flood disaster for about 4 downstream villages. To avoid the same the administration vacated about 25 homes and worked on an alternative canal overnight. As per officials the cracks were result of pressure due to rains overfilling the dam.
The dam is being built on Chanan river close to its origin place about 5 km from district headquarters in Ramanujganj. In 2013, ₹4.92 crore were approved to start work on the dam which was left incomplete due to lack of funds. After this, the WRD had submitted a revised estimate of ₹8.74 crore.
SANDRP
SANDRP 