CM Mamata Banerjee
Many areas of West Bengal are currently facing floods. Due to which the situation has now become such that two CMs of the opposition have come face to face. CM Mamata Banerjee has blamed Jharkhand for the rising water level in West Bengal, and also said that the situation in West Bengal would not have happened if water had not been released from Jharkhand.
CM Mamata Banerjee recently visited the flood affected areas in Howrah and Panskura in Medinipur. During his visit, the Chief Minister blamed DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation) for the floods in West Bengal. He blamed the Centre’s negligence for the failure to carry out dredging at the DVC, saying the water release from several districts of the state had led to the flooding.
Jharkhand border closed for three days
The CM said, despite his denial, the DVC released more than 5 lakh cusecs of water. CM Banerjee said, this has never happened before, West Bengal is flooded due to release of water from Jharkhand and Bihar.
CM Banerjee said, this did not happen due to rain. He said, DVC is releasing water to save Jharkhand from floods. He said, DVC said, May Jharkhand be safe. I said, yes, Jharkhand should be saved but Bengal should also be protected. Due to this the CM has decided that the border with Jharkhand will remain closed for three days, and he also said that the floods in West Bengal are not a natural calamity but a man-made calamity, due to which the DVC severed all ties.
Wrote a letter to Central Govt
The CM said that we had written several letters to the PM in this matter, but no action was taken on it. The water released from the DVC is not in our hands, but in the hands of the central government. The CM said, We have held several meetings with the DVC from time to time, I myself have spoken to the Chairman of the DVC. I told them not to release too much water. Our state is boat shaped. While in North Bengal, floods occur due to water release from Nepal and Bhutan, while in West Bengal, floods occur due to water release from Jharkhand and Bihar.
“The rain did not cause the flood”
The CM said, this situation did not happen due to rain, only 4-5 days of rain, which our state can bear, but we cannot bear more than 5 lakh cusecs of water released from other states. The CM further said that, as far as I know, the capacity of DVC dam has reduced from 100 percent to only 36 percent. This is definitely due to the negligence of the central government. We fight floods every year. The CM said, if the weather is good, it will take 3 to 4 days to control the flood and the situation will return to normal. He said that there is crop insurance for farmers.