The death toll in Sunday’s flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains quickly rose to 28 on Monday in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, sources in the administration said, adding that many more people were still missing.
The downpour, exceeding 325 mm in 12 hours, swept away homes, severed roads, and isolated communities, even as the Dudhey iron bridge linking Siliguri and the tourist town of Mirik collapsed.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the area on Monday along with State Chief Secretary Manoj Panth, announced `5 lakh each for the kin of those dead. She also met the affected and displaced people and assured all help. “I have instructed the DM and the SP to survey the area and get the list of those affected and then do the needful. Their houses will be constructed after the water subsides. Till then the Government will host them with food and shelter,” she said to people at Nagrakata.
Claiming that it was a manmade disaster, Banerjee said “Water is being released from the Bhutan mountains and neighbouring Assam, causing floods in Bengal,” adding that none from the Centre had contacted her Government with a proposal of relief.
“They have also shifted some offices from Bengal related to these, and they give us not a penny for controlling floods and such disasters. Everything we have to do on our own, whereas they pour money into their own (BJP-ruled) States,” she said.