River continues to swell in West Midnapore amid heavy rain

Kolkata: The river levels in West Midnapore remained on the rise with heavy rainfall in several parts of the district on Wednesday but the discharge of water from various DVC barrages has reduced resulting in receding water level at lower Damodar- Howrah and Hooghly.

West Midnapore alone has 2313 people lodged in 88 camps out of 5631 people evacuated in 166 camps set up in five districts- Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, West Midnapore and Purulia. Presently, 1514 people have been evacuated in 12 camps in Howrah while in Hooghly 1104 persons were shifted to 33 camps. In Purulia, 559 people are staying in 23 camps. In Bankura, 10 camps are housing 141 persons.

According to sources, the release of water from Maithon and Panchet, and reservoirs of Mukutmanipur Dam under DVC was reduced to 40,000 cusecs on Thursday that contributed towards receding water levels in the river in Howrah and Hooghly. However, there was no overflowing of rivers.

Five NDRF teams remain deployed at Howrah, two in Hooghly, two in West Midnapore and one SDRF team each were also deployed in these districts. Several blocks at Ghatal and Sabang in West Midnapore are inundated and speed boats were deployed at a number of places for movement of the common people.

Various areas of Chandrakona are heavily waterlogged. An embankment of Kapaleshwari River was breached.

The Irrigation and Waterways department has started repair work on a war footing.

Large areas under Khanakul block in Arambagh, Hooghly, are inundated. The MP of Arambagh, Aparupa Poddar, visited the flooded areas and monitored relief operations.

“These areas wouldn’t have been flooded had the Central government carried out dredging and DVC not released water in an indiscriminate manner,” said Poddar.

In Amta II block in Howrah, 1344 hectare of agricultural land and 134 hectares covered by water bodies involving pisciculture are affected. Amta MLA, Sukanta Pal, visited Tajpur-Fatehpur ferry ghat and heard the problems faced by the residents. He instructed the administration to take necessary measures.