West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Monday that water flowing down from neighbouring Bhutan caused floods in north Bengal. She also sought compensation from the Himalayan kingdom.
Speaking in Nagrakata in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee said that the losses occurred owing to rainwater flowing down from Bhutan through various rivers.
“We have faced losses due to water coming down from Bhutan… We want them to give us compensation,” Banerjee was quoted by news agency PTI as saying in a short address during a government programme on Monday.
Mamata Banerjee also insisted on the formation of the Indo-Bhutan Joint River Commission. “I have been insisting on setting up an Indo-Bhutan Joint River Commission for some time now, and I demand that West Bengal be made part of it,” she said.
“Under our pressure, there’s a meeting scheduled on the 16th of this month and our officers will attend that,” Mamata Banerjee added, alleging that the Centre has deprived the state of monetary assistance for handling calamities.
Banerjee visited multiple relief camps in the Bamandanga area of Nagrakata in the Jalpaiguri district which is one of the worst-affected areas due to heavy rain. On October 4, heavy rainfall had flooded the region and caused widespread damage to life and property in the upper reaches of Darjeeling and its foothills.
“We will conduct a survey of the houses that have been washed away once the floodwaters recede completely and will take measures to rebuild them,” she assured the victims currently lodged in the camps.
Mamata Banerjee also said that a temporary bridge has been constructed over the adjacent Gathia and Diana rivers after the earlier one had collapsed during the floods.
“To ensure that the victims do not suffer further on account of loss of vital documents such as Aadhar Card, PAN card, land titles etc. which have been washed away by the floodwaters, I urge them to register their losses at the ongoing camps so that the state government can reissue duplicate copies at the soonest,” she said.
At least 32 people were killed and thousands left homeless in landslides and floods in the northern districts of West Bengal.
Mamata blames DVC for ‘man-made disaster’
Earlier, Banerjee had blamed the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for triggering a “man-made disaster” that led to the death of 28 people following devastating landslides in North Bengal.
With over 300 mm of rain in 12 hours, the landslides had ravaged Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong districts, leaving thousands of tourists stranded, hundreds homeless as several hill slopes caved in.
According to PTI, she called the floods and the ensuing destruction in north Bengal “man-made”, and blamed the DVC for “unrestricted” release of water, resulting in overflowing rivers in the southern parts of the state.
She accused the DVC and the Centre of negligence. She had also pointed towards the Hooghly river flowing close to the danger mark, and alleged that water from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were being released from Farakka, leaving Bengal’s rivers in a vulnerable state.
“The DVC is releasing water as per its wish. The lack of desiltation of Maithon and Panchet reservoirs has significantly reduced their water retention capacity,” she had said.
“The DVC is doing this to save Jharkhand from flooding and Bengal is bearing the brunt. We don’t mind that Jharkhand needs to be saved. But, we have our throats sore from asking them to carry out de-siltation for the last two decades now,” the CM added.
The DVC, meanwhile, confirmed that it had released 55,000 cusecs of water from the Maithon and Panchet reservoirs but denied any arbitrary action. “Flooding depends on downstream river capacity, which is not under DVC’s control,” a senior official was quoted by PTI as saying.
