Mamata jabs Centre for North Bengal flood situation

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday slammed the Centre for the flood-like situation in North Bengal and accused it of shying away from its responsibility of dredging the Farakka barrage.

Banerjee claimed that the release of water from the Koshi River in Nepal resulted in inundation in Bihar as well as in Bengal.

“We recently witnessed flood situations in several South Bengal districts due to indiscriminate release of water by DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation). Five lakh cusec of water was released from Koshi River in Nepal which entered Bengal through Bihar and flooded parts of Malda, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur. The water of the River Sankoch inundated parts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipuduar," Banerjee told reporters at Kolkata airport before leaving for North Bengal.

“Centre did not dredge Farakka for 20 years. Had Farakka held some amount of water then situations in Malda and Murshidabad would have been better. Previously, they monitored a 120 km area in and around Farakka which has now come down to 20 km. They do nothing and hence a major part of north Bengal has been inundated from water released by Nepal,” Banerjee said.

Banerjee accused the BJP leaders of being indifferent to Bengal in such a serious situation. “They would come before elections and would indulge in tall talks. When elections are over, they hardly turn up. Bengal is the only state which has been deprived of monetary assistance for flood management," she alleged.

On Sunday morning, she instructed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and local MLA Khageswar Roy to visit the residence of the victim who died of electrocution at Gajoldoba. He assured all possible cooperation from the state government.

Banerjee maintained that the administration has been put on alert and the police are reaching out to the affected people with relief. Darjeeling and Kalimpong have also witnessed massive landslides and tourists are using the alternative way via Lava, Lolegaon to reach the plains.

Banerjee said that she would speak with the Army so that the subsidence can be addressed at the earliest.