Floods fuel political tensions as heavy rains continue to disrupt life in West Bengal

Mamata Banerjee urges vigilance as Kolkata battles floods, disputes over water release intensify between State and Centre.

Kolkata 

As heavy rains continued to lash Kolkata and large parts of south Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked government officials to stay vigilant about flood situations and water borne diseases. She also raised concerns over Damodar Valley Corporation allegedly releasing more water as the State continues to grapple with floods in multiple districts. 

Several areas in Kolkata were waterlogged on September 26, Thursday, due to rainfall due to cyclonic circulation over south Chhattisgarh. The heavy waterfall comes at a time when certain areas in south Bengal are facing floods. The war of words over release of water from DVC continues. 

Responding to a question about flood relief funds in the Central budget for West Bengal, Ms Banerjee said that the amount was nil. She asked North Bengal to stay active in handling Malaria cases and claimed that dengue cases are less this year. She also said that the snake bite anti-venom will be readily available at all Primary Health Centers and Medical Colleges.  

On Wednesday 20 of the 23 districts in West Bengal received “largely excess rainfall”. Some of the worst affected areas were districts like Paschim Burdwan, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur, Birbhum, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, and others. Many of these districts are already reeling under the ongoing floods in the State. Several parts of the State capital Kolkata also were waterlogged due to the incessant rains.  

The West Bengal State administration and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed multiple times that this flood is “man-made” due to unrestricted water release from DVC dams. On September 26, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, General Secretary of BJP West Bengal claimed that the water released from the barrages and dams within West Bengal was much more than DVC water release. 

Mr Chattopadhyay further showed a letter written by the Additional Chief Secretary of West Bengal government and said, “On September 17 this letter said DVC will release water, start preparing, so if the CM says their government was not informed before water release, it means she is lying. The Additional CS has also accepted in the letter that water release from Kansabati will also cause flooding.” He even challenged the State government and police to prove if the letter was real or not. With this he tried to refute the claims made by Ms Banerjee that they were not informed about DVC water release.