Whenever it shall appear to the Officer in charge of any tank, river or canal, or of any anicut or other like work, that there is imminent danger of the embankment of such tank, river or canal being breached, or of a breach being made in such anicut or other work, and of a destructive inundation being caused thereby, which may be prevented by a large body of laborers immediately working together to strengthen the embankment or other work; or when such a breach has occurred, if it shall appear to such officer that it can be repaired, and the inundation caused by it be stopped, by the immediate employment of a large body of laborers for that purpose— it shall be lawful for such Officer to require the head or heads of the village or villages in the vicinity to call upon all able-bodied male persons of the laboring classes in such village or villages to co-operate in the work necessary for preventing or repairing the breach as the case may be. In the absence of the said Officer, it shall be lawful for the Tahsildar of the talook to make such requisition in his stead. And if neither the said Officer nor the Tahsildar is on the spot, and the emergency is great and urgent, it shall be lawful for the head of the village in which the breach is expected to occur or has occurred, of his own motion, to call upon the laborers as aforesaid of his own village, and, if needful, to make a requisition to the heads of the neighboring villages to call likewise upon the laborers of their villages, to co-operate in the work necessary for preventing or repairing the breach.