Every monsoon, the engineers at Khadakwasla dam, just outside Pune in Maharashtra, have a tough calculation on their hands. They have to decide when to open the gates and how far to let the Mutha River flood the city. 

Whatever they decide, parts of Pune will go under, as the last three monsoons have shown. In July 2024, the dam released 35,000 cubic feet of water a second, displacing over 4,000 people across the city. This July, residents of Ekta Nagari, a neighbourhood situated right on the riverbank, received warnings at night to move their belongings off........

© The Ken