mamata-accuses-centre-for-flood-like-situation-in-bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that the flood-like situation in some parts of the state was “man-made” due to unbridled release of water by DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation) from its dams in Maithon and Panchet.

Banerjee, who is visiting the affected areas in Hooghly district, told reporters that DVC has released 3.5 lakh cusecs of water which has led to this situation.

“This kind of water discharge had never happened before. DVC has released 3.5 lakh cusecs of water. I have talked with the DVC officials and the Jharkhand chief minister. But of no avail,” she said.

The Centre does not dredge the DVC dams. Had these dams been dredged, another additional two lakh cusecs of water could have been stored, she said.

This action of releasing water is “pre-meditated and done to put West Bengal into trouble,” she said.

DVC reduced releasing water from its barrages which has led to a flood-like situation in several southern districts of West Bengal, an official said on Wednesday.

The situation is likely to worsen in the next 2-3 days as the water released over the past two days is now reaching some of the already affected districts.

"The DVC released 2.1 lakh cusec of water last night. However, since this morning, there has been a gradual reduction, as the rainfall has stopped in the upper catchment areas. At 8:30 am on Wednesday, the release rate was 1.7 lakh cusec, which further decreased to 1.4 lakh cusec by 10:45 am from the Panchet and Maithon dams," DVC Maithon Chief Engineer Anjani K Dubey told the media.

Any water release above 1.5 lakh cusec is considered a "red alert," while that between 1 lakh and 1.5 lakh cusec trigger an "orange alert." Parts of Birbhum, Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, and Paschim Bardhaman districts are inundated, according to Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the Chief Advisor to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Several parts of the state in Hooghly and Paschim Medinipur districts have been inundated and the chief minister is visiting these areas.