About 90K people evacuated, 350 camps set up across state

Kolkata: Amid incessant rainfall over the past few days that has wrecked havoc across the state and warnings of intense showers in the next 48 hours, to avoid loss of life, the Bengal government has so far evacuated around 90,000 people from various vulnerable districts where the situation may further worsen if there are more rains. Besides, at least 350 camps have been opened in the affected districts to accommodate these people.

More than 1 lakh tarpaulin and relief materials including 1,000 metric tons of rice, 35,000 garments have been sent to the affected areas, sources said. Chief Secretary (CS) HK Dwivedi on Saturday held a meeting with the District Magistrates (DMs) of all the affected districts including Hooghly, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas and instructed them to take all the precautionary measures tackle the situation. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also inquired about the situation at the ground level from the CS on Saturday.

It may be mentioned here that there has been a heavy rain in Jharkhand and around 1 lakh cusec of water was released from Tenughat on Saturday and this water will reach Panchet in 36 hours. The water then flows further downstream to Durgapur barrage via Maithon dam. Then the combined mass of water is released from Durgapur barrage. Till 5 pm on Sunday around 1.55 lakh cusecs of water was released from Durgapur. Around 70,000 cusecs water was released from Tenughat on Sunday, around 1 lakh cusecs from Panchet and around 14,000 cusecs from Maithon.

As there are inundated areas in various places in the regions, any further rainfall can complicate the situation. It was learnt that Irrigation department received information saying that the right embankments of Damodar River are overtopping and due to this the water is entering into the villages situated on the right side of Damodar. Various parts of Hooghly and Howrah including Khanakul, Udaynarayanpur, Amta, Jagatballavpur may be affected further if it rains.

Around 15,000 cusecs of water was released from Kangshabati barrage on Friday. There are already many areas which are inundated including parts of Ghatal, Daspur in West Midnapore and Panskura in East Midnapore. These areas are vulnerable if it rains further. These places are around 160 km away from Kangshabati barrage but there are many catchment areas as the water from other rivers like Shilabati, Rupnarayan, Dwarkeswar flowing into Kangshabati.

As a result water is flowing above the danger level. As the Ghatal sub-correctional home went under water, around 61 inmates were shifted to Midnapore Central jail. NDRF armed jawans escorted them when the inmates stepped out of the correctional home. If the water level in Subarnarekha rises further, the situation may further worsen in Gopiballavpur in Jharkhand and various parts of East Midnapore. If it rains further there may be a flood like situation.

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore on Sunday predicted a heavy rainfall in some of the North Bengal districts such as Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri in the next 48 hours.

A low pressure has been hovering over Uttar Pradesh which might bring rainfall in south Bengal districts on Tuesday/Wednesday. Irrigation department said that the situation in North Bengal is still under control but it may worsen if there is any fresh rainfall. Some parts of

South 24-Parganas were affected the same areas where people had to suffer during the Cyclone 'Yaas'.