Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee visits flood-affected areas, blames Centre for not carrying out dredging at Damodoar Valley Corporation dams

Howrah (West Bengal) [India], September 19 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the flood-affected areas in Howrah and Panskura in Medinipur on Thursday and put the blame on the Centre's negligence for failing to carry out dredging at DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation), which she said released water resulting in floods in several districts of the State.
She said that the DVC released more than 5 lakhs of water despite her request.
Banerjee said, "This has never happened before. We conduct meetings from time to time. I personally called the DVC chairman. I requested them not to release too much water. Our state is boat-shaped. In North Bengal floods occur due to water from Nepal and Bhutan. And here floods occur due water from Jharkhand. In Malda, floods occur due to water from Bihar and dredging not taking place in the river Ganga. DVC has released more than 5 lakh cusecs of water."
Noting that the State government has built 500 check dams, Banerejee said, "It will take 3 to 4 days to settle if the weather is good. There is crop insurance for the farmers. Those whose mud houses have collapsed. We have built 50 lakh pucca hoses in Bengal but even now there are 50 lakh mud houses. Central government has not given funds since last three years."
The West Bengal Chief Minister said that flooding did not happen due to rain.
"This is not for rain. Yes, it rained for 4-5 days but we can tolerate that. We have a lot of infrastructure and systems. But I cannot tolerate, people cannot tolerate more than 5 lakh cusecs of water that has been released from DVC and other areas. The capacity of the DVC dam came down to 36 per cent only from 100 per cent, as per my knowledge. This is definitely because of negligence of Central Government - no dredging, no desiltation for years. We are fighting the battle every year. Why will the people of Bengal fight the battle? They said, let Jharkhand be safe. I said, Yes, Jharkhand should be saved but Bengal must also be safe. I cannot protect you, instead of my people."
Banerjee said that the border with Jharkhand would be shut for three days and all ties with the DVC would be severed.
She further said, "This had never happened in other years. We wrote to the Prime Minister several times but it was not considered. Our ministerial team went there. What more can we do? They did nothing. That is why our people are facing problems. Water from DVC is not in our hands. It is the Central Government's. They are not taking care of people in Malda also. A seven-day sit-in protest continued there. We will not drop this (matter), we have to save people..."
She said that the Centre had announced Rs 700 crore to stop erosion in Farakka but did not give the amount.
"They are not taking care of people from Malda also. The central government is not giving money for Awas Yojana for last three years. We will provide 11 lakh pucca houses and a further 1 lakh houses for food-affected houses," she said.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday reported that the deep depression formed over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh has moved west-northwestward at a speed of 5 km/h over the past six hours.
Following this development, parts of South 24 Parganas experienced rainfall.
"The deep depression over Gangetic West Bengal moved west-northwestward at a speed of 5 km/h over the past six hours and was centred at 1200 UTC today, September 15, 2024, over the same region near latitude 22.8°N and longitude 87.2°E, approximately 120 km west-northwest of Kolkata, 70 km south of Bankura, 100 km east of Jamshedpur, and 200 km east-southeast of Ranchi," the IMD stated.