The flood situation in Bengal became worse on Monday claiming more than 50 lives and marooning about 37 lakh people. However, there was no rain on Monday, sources in the Government that struggled to reach relief materials in the far-off areas said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “This is the worst flood in the past four years. The situation at present is rendered beyond control.” Earlier “the estimated rainfall was 61 per cent excess but on Monday it is 70 per cent excess,” she said. The Trinamool Congress has imposed an unwritten ban on the Opposition parties to join hands in relief work, reports coming from far-flung areas said.
About 10,000 villages in 12 districts, 210 blocks and 47 municipalities were affected, sources in the State Secretariat at Nabanna said, adding that the worst-affected districts were Birbhum, Burdwan, Hooghly, Howrah. Parts of North and South 24-Parganas, Nadia, two Midnapore districts were also under water which may take days to recede triggering fears of waterborne diseases.
To add to the Government’s woes, thousand cusecs of water were released over the past couple of days from barrages under Damodar Valley Corporation leading to fresh floods in the downstream areas of Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had come down heavily on the Centre for “neglecting dredging works in these rivers.”
Rivers like Hooghly, Damodar, Ajoy, Mayurakshi, Kue, Kangshabati and Roopnarayan had flooded extensive parts of Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bankura, Hooghly, Howrah and Burdwan, sources said. The State Government had opened 1,537 camps where 3.5 lakh people had taken shelter, the Chief Minister who had been working all night from Nabanna said, adding 100 boats that had been pressed into service were inadequate.
Banerjee, who on Monday personally distributed relief materials in North 24-Parganas announced Rs4 lakh as compensation for those who had died in the flood. Those who lost their limbs would get Rs2 lakh and those who were injured would be given Rs60,000 each.
According to sources, seven people had drowned while an equal number had died in wall collapse. Three persons were electrocuted and another nine people lost their lives to snake bites. However, the list of dead did not include a person who was shot dead by a Trinamool Congress leader for raising his voice against inequitable distribution of relief material in South 24-Parganas.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties raised a hue and cry protesting against the ruling Trinamool Congress-declared ban on relief work by any non-Trinamool organisation. “When we were in power we asked for cooperation from all concerned as there can be no politics over natural calamity. But this Government has no humanity at all. They even play politics during natural crisis to earn brownie points,” State Opposition leader Suryakanto Mishra said.