'Man-made' flood situation worse than that of 1978: CM

The "man-made" flood situation is worse than that of 1978, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday. She reiterated that despite repeated requests, the Centre had refused to carry out dredging operation and the state government has decided to go ahead on its own in lower Damodar river.

It may be recalled that following a torrential rain that hit South Bengal districts including Kolkata in September 1978, vast areas had got inundated. There was waist deep water in parts of South Kolkata including Bhowanipore and Kalighat while boats had to be deployed to ferry the residents who were staying on the ground floor of the houses situated on Amherst Street, Thanthania and Sukia Street to safer places.

Meanwhile, overall situation in the "man-made" floods showed slight improvement with no fresh rain and water has started to recede too from the affected areas. Atri Bhattacharya, state Home Secretary, said water will start to recede from Friday night. The DVC on Friday released 132372 cusec water from Panchet and 182250 cusec from Durgapur Barrage which is much less than what had been released in the past 48 hours. The worst affected districts are West Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and Bankura.

A helicopter (M17V5) of the Indian Air Force was deployed to rescue 20 people who got trapped in a house at Pratapur village in Ghatal. The personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) went to rescue the inmates of the house on Thursday night. But they refused to vacate the premises. NDRF personnel found it difficult to reach the house on Friday morning as water of Shilabati river began to increase since late Thursday night. Water entered the second floor of the house and the inmates took shelter on the roof. Finding no other option, the state government got in touch with the Indian Air Force in Barrackpore. When the IAF jawans came to rescue them, they refused stating that they will fall on the ground while they are being airlifted to the helicopter. To build confidence of the inmates, the jawans

air-lifted a police constable and a local. But despite that, they refused to vacate the house and the helicopter went empty-handed. But by then, the water of Shilabati river began to recede. Mamata Banerjee said attempts will be made to rescue them on Saturday again.

Twelve people have died in the past 24 hours taking the death toll to 28. Of these, three died of snake bite and another three were electrocuted, four got killed in lightning and four died after portions of a wall fell on them. The state government has opened 207 relief camps in the affected areas where 4.45 lakh people are staying.