West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee has blamed Jharkhand for floods in her state, saying that the situation has risen due to Damodar Valley Corporation's (DVC) unbridled release of water from its dams.
Jharkhand government is led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is Opposition bloc INDIA.
Holding the DVC responsible for the "man-made" floods in West Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee said her government would sever all ties with the body.
Damodar Valley Corporation is a statutory body which operates in the Damodar River area of West Bengal and Jharkhand to handle the Damodar Valley Project, the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India.
DVC dams are located at Maithon and Panchet, both along the Jharkhand-West Bengal border.
Mamata Shuts Bengals Borders With Jharkhand Over 'Well-Planed Conspiracy'
Mamata Banerjee alleged there was a "well-planned conspiracy" to put West Bengal in this situation. "This has never happened before. I am in fear of what I have seen. We conduct meetings from time to time. I had personally called the DVC chairman and requested him not to release too much water," news agency PTI quoted Mamata Banerjee as saying.
"In north Bengal, floods occur due to water from Nepal and Bhutan and in south Bengal it is mainly due to the water released from Jharkhand," she said.
Mamata Banerjee said that the West Bengal's border with Jharkhand will be shut for the next three days, without elaborating on the reason.
The police reportedly stopped the entry of cargo vehicles travelling from Jharkhand to West Bengal at Duburdih Check Post near Maithon from around 7 pm on Thursday evening, leading to long queues of vehicles at the West Bengal-Jharkhand border on the Delhi-Kolkata national highway. The West Bengal Police said that they have received an order from senior officers regarding the ban, a news18.com report said.
Claimed that the DVC has released 5.5 lakh cusecs of water this year, contributing to the current crisis, Mamata Banerjee said even though it rained for 4-5 days, it wasn't something the state could not have handled. "We have adequate infrastructure," she said.
CM Mamata Blames Centre
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Centre of failing to carry out dredging at DVC dams, the release of water from which resulted in floods in several districts of West Bengal.
Mamata Banerjee on Thursday visited Panskura in Purba Medinipur district and Udaynarayanpur in Howrah district to monitor the flood situation. "This is not rainwater, this is water released by central government organisation DVC from its dams. This is a man-made flood, and it's unfortunate. Why isn't the Centre dredging the DVC dams, where the water storage capacity has decreased by 36 per cent. There is a larger conspiracy at play. This cannot continue and we will start a major movement against this," she said after her visit
"The flood situation in West Bengal is because of DVC's unbridled release of water from its dams to save Jharkhand. We will not keep any ties with DVC," she said.
Later speaking in Udaynarayanpur, CM Mamata Banerjee said that the state has been facing similar situations in the last 13 years, though not this severe, and has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on multiple occasions but there has been no fruitful response from his end.
"We had written to the prime minister several times but our request was not considered. Our ministerial team also went to New Delhi. What more can we do? They [Centre] did nothing," she said.
"That is why our people are facing problems. Release of water by DVC is not in our hands... it is with the Centre. They are not taking care of people in Malda also," she added.
She alleged that Centre had announced a package of Rs 700 crore to stop erosion in Farakka but did not release the funds. "The central government has not given money for Awas Yojana for the last three years. We will provide 11 lakh pucca houses and additional one lakh houses for food-affected people," she said.
"I will instruct the administration to ensure that everyone receives adequate relief materials," Banerjee said, adding that she has given instructions to the district magistrates and SPs to closely monitor the relief distribution process.
