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Bengal

DVC releases about 1L cusec water, state deploys at least 8 columns of Army

KOLKATA: With release of around 1 lakh cusec of water by Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), the state government has taken precautionary measures to ensure safety of people, including deployment of eight columns of Indian Army in some of the south Bengal districts.

Move has been taken to evacuate around 3 lakh people from the vulnerable areas. The reason being water has been released through river Ajay and is threatening to turn the situation worse in districts including West Burdwan, Hooghly, Bankura and Howrah.

Three columns each of the Indian Army are being deployed in West Burdwan and Hooghly, while two columns are deployed in Howrah.

At the same time, about 12 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and more teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are getting deployed. Additional numbers of boats are being brought from adjacent districts.

Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi held a meeting with concerned district magistrates to ensure proper arrangements to avoid further loss of life and property if certain areas of south Bengal districts get inundated again.

Sources said there was enhanced discharge of 2.04 lakh cusec water from down Durgapur Barrage at 5.30 pm and the trend shows that it would further increase. DVC's combined discharge was 1 lakh cusec after 3 pm. There was discharge of 3,000 cusec from Mayurakshi Dam, 12,000 cusec from Tilpara Barrage, 90,000 cusec from Sikatia Barrage and 30,000 cusec from Kangsabati Dam. The combined discharge of Darakeswar and Gandheswari at Bankura was 1.20 lakh cusec.

Meanwhile, Asansol and Bankura recorded the highest rainfall in history in the last 24 hours even as a well-marked low-pressure, causing the torrential rain, moved to north Jharkhand and Bihar, the weather office said on Friday.

Enhanced rainfall activity is, however, likely to continue over the districts of south Bengal till Friday morning, it said. Asansol recorded 434.5 mm rainfall in 24 hours till Thursday morning, while Bankura, the headquarter town of Bankura district, recorded 354.3 mm rain during the period, it said in a bulletin.

"These are the historical highest 24 hours rainfall recorded so far in Asansol and Bankura," the weather office said.

The previous highest for Asansol was 192 mm on July 27, 2018 and for Bankura the recorded maximum rainfall was 292.4 mm on June 22, 1922, it said.

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