West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (September 24, 2024) said that 28 persons had died in the recent floods in the State. She once again blamed the release of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for the inundation of several districts in south Bengal.
“DVC has no other work. They only release water and kill human beings. West Bengal is not flooded because of heavy rain,” the Chief Minister said, addressing a press conference in the State’s Birbhum district.
Ms. Banerjee said that the challenge could be water-borne disease and snake bites in the flood-prone areas of the State. Over the past few days, the CM has visited flood-affected areas, including Howrah and Hooghly, and distributed relief material.
The DVC is headquartered at Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader said she did not want an organisation that released water leading to the death of people to remain in the State.
The West Bengal CM has been targeting the DVC lately. She had earlier remarked that she wanted to sever all ties with the DVC. During a previous meeting in Burdwan, she had condemned the Central government’s handling of the situation, stating “millions of people’s houses are sinking due to a lack of action”.
“Let them (the Centre) take it (the DVC) away. I do not care. They have removed everything from Kolkata and there is nothing left. They keep a building (the DVC headquarters) in Kolkata but will not listen to Kolkata and keep on releasing water, inundating Bengal and killing people,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister reassured flood-affected residents that her government was taking steps to repair damaged infrastructure, promising to rebuild homes and compensate farmers who had lost their crops due to the inundation.
The Chief Minister blamed the geography of the State for the floods, and said that she could not help it if West Bengal was situated in the basin of the Bay of Bengal. Ms. Banerjee also highlighted that northern West Bengal suffered from flooding due to the release of water from Nepal and Bhutan.
As part of her government’s response, Ms. Banerjee mentioned that both the State’s Power Secretary Santanu Basu, and Chief Engineer Uttam Roy, had resigned from their positions at the DVC.
While Ms. Banerjee has said that the unilateral discharge of about five million cusecs of water had resulted in the situation, Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Paatil had said State government officials were informed at every stage about the release of water from the DVC’s reservoirs, which was essential to prevent a major disaster.
The Chief Minister had written two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 20 and September 22, respectively, raising allegations against the DVC over the release of funds, and the lack of funds for flood management in West Bengal.
Published - September 24, 2024 09:58 pm IST
