Flood situation worsens in West Bengal

KOLKATA: With the flood situation turning grim in at least seven districts of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who went to Howrah district to conduct a preliminary survey of the situation on Wednesday, complained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the flood situation has aggravated in the state because of the excessive release of water by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC).

The allegations were raised during a phone call with the Prime Minister on Wednesday. Besides taking stock of the situation on the ground, Modi also took stock of the damages caused by the floods in the state, and promised Mamata Banerjee that the Centre would assist the state in alleviating the flood situation. Sources in the CMO said that Banerjee slammed the DVC dams for releasing excessive amount of water without consulting the state, causing flooding in several areas. The conversation between the two leaders lasted for about seven minutes.

West Bengal Irrigation Minister Soumen Mahapatra had also hit out at the DVC on Tuesday, saying: "The DVC deliberately released so much water that it led to a flood-like situation. The Central government deliberately created this man-made flood situation in Bengal. We condemn such politics."

Earlier, the Chief Minister had promised that she would conduct an aerial survey of the flood affected districts, particularly at Khanakul in Hooghly and Udaynarayanpur in Howrah district, but she had to cancel her trip to Khanakul because of the rough weather condition and visited only Udaynarayanpur by road.

Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister termed the floods as 'man-made' and alleged, "There has been no dredging in the canals and naturally these canals are getting overflooded leading to this recurring flood in West Bengal. The DVC is also responsible for this because it is releasing more water than it had promised." (IANS)

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