Mahapatra holds meeting in Hooghly to check flood-like situations

Kolkata: The state Irrigation minister Soumen Mahapatra held a high level meeting in Hooghly to check floods during monsoon. Mahapatra spoke with the people's representatives from the district to take stock of the situation so that necessary steps can be taken, if necessary, to ensure that the people of the district do not face any trouble during monsoon.

Senior officers of the department were present in the meeting. The minister urged all the people's representatives to keep watch at their respective areas, so that proactive steps can be taken up if crack or anything similar is identified in any part of the embankments.

At the same time, senior officials of the state Irrigation department will also be taking necessary steps to avoid any flood-like situation.

It may be mentioned that there are certain pockets in the district that are prone to floods. There were also discussions over the preparation in these areas to avoid flood-like situations. The meeting in Hooghly continued for around three long hours and the peoples' representatives put forward various suggestions.

It may be recalled that the state Irrigation minister has already held meetings with concerned authorities to check flood-like situations during monsoon. There were separate meetings for North and South 24-Parganas.

The Mamata Banerjee government has also taken up several steps to check floods in different parts of the state, throughout the past seven years. Mahapatra also held a meeting with officials of all the concerned agencies, including Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), earlier, to discuss issues related to checking of floods during monsoon. The agencies have assured that they will be carrying out necessary work so that flood-like situations can be avoided.

There was also a discussion with the DVC authorities regarding release of water from the reservoirs. Stress was also given on better communication between the state Irrigation department and the agencies.