Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Friday, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) of being responsible for the current flood situation in the state.
In the letter, the Chief Minister claimed that at least seven districts are currently facing the flood- situation because of the “unprecedented, unplanned and unilateral” release of around 5,00,000 cusecs of water from DVC’s Maithon and Panchet dams.
“This huge quantum of discharge from the DVC dam system has never happened in the past,” the letter read.
Claiming that West Bengal is facing the biggest flood since 2009, the Chief Minister in her letter has pointed out that a total of 1,000 square kilometres of area and nearly five million people have been affected because of the flood situation.
“I am compelled to call it a man-made flood, a situation engineered by sheer neglect and turning a blind eye to sustained requests from the stakeholder and long-suffering state government like us to address the technical, mechanical and managerial issues concerning the DVC system,” the Chief Minister claimed in her letter.
She also said that despite requests made by the state government, which included her personal telephonic conversation with the DVC chairman on the night of September 16, combined dam release was increased in quick succession the next day.
According to her, the release could have been deferred, especially in view of the “emergency provision of encroaching beyond the maximum flood management levels at Maithon and Panchet reservoirs”.
“It remains a fact that the sharp increase in the combined dam release was made without waiting for the water levels to reach the maximum flood management levels at the two reservoirs mentioned above, and without having advance consultation with the state government,” the letter added.
She also said that there is a need for dredging and desilting of the DVC reservoirs in order to restore their flood water holding capacity.
“It is also alarming that DVC appears to have shifted focus from its primary objective of flood control in the Damodar River, as mandated by law to power generation, disregarding the social obligations. This shift has sacrificed the interests of the downstream state of West Bengal,” the Chief Minister claimed in the letter.
On Thursday, CM Mamata Banerjee slammed the Jharkhand government over the flood situation in her state. She alleged that the flood situation in West Bengal has worsened since Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) was releasing water from its dam to save Jharkhand.
–IANS
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