Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued to blame the Centre, including Damodar Valley Corporation, for “extraordinary flood situation” in the State that has left over 10 lakh marooned and at least 10 dead.
An angry Chief Minister on Thursday alleged lack of planning by Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee which led to this year’s flood that had affected about six districts of the State.
“We repeatedly asked the Centre to clean and dredge the old barrages of DVC since 2012. The capacity of these barrages have reduced due to sedimentation. Therefore, the dams that should be able to contain another two lakh cusecs of water are not able to so. I think the Centre should take initiatives to revamp the DVC,” she said.
“When the lands get water-logged due to rainfall then we can understand that it is the result of natural forces. But who will answer when it is man made,” she said wondering why the rivers were not dredged these many years. She said the Centre should start dredging rivers at Farakka and Haldia so that the flood situation do not recur every year. Besides she said “despite repeated requests the DVC continued to release water which inundated several districts of Bengal.
Though the DVC sources blamed excessive rain for the worsened situation Bengal Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee said “the DVC could have waited for a few days more before releasing water from Tenughat, Panchet and other areas.”
Meanwhile, lakhs of people were affected in Birbhum, Bankura, Nadia, two Midnapores, Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah.