Mamata Banerjee on Monday labelled the floods in north Bengal “manmade”, blamed the BJP-led Centre and its utilities, such as the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), for “unrestricted” release of water, which caused overflowing in rivers of south Bengal as well.
The Bengal chief minister, on her way to north Bengal, spoke to journalists at the Calcutta airport, lamenting the loss of dozens of lives in the 300-plus millimetres of rainfall received in 12 hours in the Sub-Himalayan region since Saturday night, which wrecked vast swathes of districts such as Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.
Under fire from the Opposition for apparently prioritising the Durga Puja Carnival in the city on Sunday, Mamata said: “From Saturday night, along with the chief secretary and the DGP, I closely monitored the north Bengal situation. Besides over 300mm rainfall in north Bengal, water from Bhutan raged in through the Sankosh, and (NDA-ruled) Sikkim’s water, too, flooded several areas.”
The Trinamool Congress chief said the Hooghly had been flowing close to the danger mark, and alleged that water from (NDA-ruled) states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were being released through Farakka, causing vulnerability to Bengal’s rivers.
“The DVC is releasing unrestricted water on a whim. The pending desiltation of Maithon and Panchet reservoirs has substantially reduced their water-retention capacity. The DVC is doing this to save Jharkhand, but Bengal ends up suffering. We appreciate that Jharkhand needs saving, but we have cried ourselves hoarse asking them to conduct desiltation, for at least two decades now,”said Mamata.
“Why do you need to have dams? The water could have flowed following its natural course and drained out naturally,” she added. “All states could then have equally shouldered the burden of impact. But what is happening is that Bengal keeps ending up at the receiving end. The water is being released through the barrages in Durgapur and Farakka, and it is our roads and bridges that are getting washed away.”
She said the Ghatal Master Plan was not implemented over 20 years after the Centre promised it, so the state was undertaking it on its own.
“But even if that is completed, if the DVC keeps releasing water like this, we will need to find other ways to mitigate it,” said Mamata.
“In Sikkim, they built 40 hydropower projects on the Teesta... where does that water go? It comes to Siliguri, Matigara, and Kalimpong. We are dealing with the ramifications, while they are busy making money,” she claimed.
The chief minister said she had sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding an India-Bhutan River Commission, or else, north Bengal would continue to suffer the consequences.
“But I have not received any response.... Bhutan has 56 rivers,” she said later inthe day.
“Earlier, there was a river commission with Bangladesh at the border regarding the Ganga, but that has been shifted to Patna, I believe. They have no communication with us, that is the problem,” she added.
The chief minister said the Bhutan government communicated to her its sympathies on Sunday.
“We had asked them to release water slowly. Because once released, it takes two to three days to reach us. Yet, with what they released, Nagrakata was washed away, along with Dhupguri, vast stretches of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Matigara, Mirik, and Darjeeling. The most affected places are Nagrakata and Mirik, besides Jorebunglow and Kalimpong,” said the chief minister, adding that many tourists were already rescued, while more arrangements were being made by her government.
“Bringing every tourist back is our responsibility,” she added.
The Trinamool chief also accused the Centre of blocking Bengal funds for flood relief, and said her government was somehow making do on its own.
“The money they use to rig elections, to politically manipulate the Election Commission of India... they have stopped the state’s funds for floods, roads, housing... everything. Although the GST (simplification) was implemented, which we fully supported for the people, it was the state that suffered a loss of ₹20,000 crore,” she said.
“This Centre owes us ₹1.85 lakh crore. Now add another ₹20,000 crore to that total. Where are we going to get the money from?” asked the chief minister. “This is discrimination and deprivationof Bengal.”