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KOLKATA — Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote another letter to PM Narendra Modi on the flood situation in West Bengal, maintaining that Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) released water from its reservoirs without consulting her government, inundating several districts.
Responding to Banerjee's earlier letter to the PM, Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil had said the state's officials were informed at every stage about the release of water from DVC reservoirs, which was essential to prevent a major disaster.
The CM said, "While the hon'ble minister claims that the release from DVC dams was carried out by consensus and collaboration with the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee, including consultations with representatives of the government of West Bengal, I may respectfully disagree."
"All the critical decisions are made unilaterally by representatives of the Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India without arriving at a consensus," she said.
Banerjee claimed that sometimes water is released without any notice to the state government and the views of her government are not honoured.
"Moreover peak release from the reservoirs lasting for a prolonged period of nine hours were conducted with only 3.5 hours notice which proved insufficient for effective disaster management," she said in the letter dated September 21, which was made public on Sunday.
Banerjee said that on the night of September 16, she had requested the DVC chairman to defer the release, but it was not adhered to.
Stating that her government did not consent to the peak discharge of 2.5 lakh cusecs, she said it had requested the volume of discharge be reduced to 2.3 lakh cusecs at 4.34 pm on September 17 and 2 lakh cusecs at 5 pm.
"The DVC first issued an advisory to reduce the release to 2.2 lakh cusecs at 6 pm and later to 2.1 lakh cusecs at 11.20 pm," she said.
"Unfortunately, there was a significant time lag between our requests and its implementation (ranging from 2.5 to 7.5 hours)," she said, adding that the delay worsened the situation, "causing substantial damage to our state".
The CM said the peak discharge of 2.5 lakh cusecs could have been avoided.
"Had the reservoirs (Maithon and Panchet) been allowed to encroach beyond their maximum flood management level (MFML), the peak discharge could have been moderated, potentially minimising the impact on south Bengal," she said.
"Thus I believe the union minister's statement that all efforts were made to minimise flooding is not entirely accurate," she said.
Banerjee said that as a protest against the "apparent disregard for West Bengal's concerns" and the lack of cooperation regarding flood moderation, her government was withdrawing its representative from the DVRRC immediately.
She said the Ghatal Master Plan in Paschim and Purba Medinipur districts, and the flood management scheme for Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda were approved with investment clearance of INR 1,238.95 crore and INR 496.70 crore.
Despite these projects being approved for a 100 per cent central grant under the River Management Activities in Border Areas (RMBA) on March 14, no funds have been received, she said.
"The delays in receiving central assistance and the prolonged appraisal process are undermining the urgency of addressing flood management in a scientific and comprehensive manner. The budgetary allocation of INR 449.57 crore in the 2024-25 fiscal year is insufficient, thereby confirming that flood management is not a priority area for the Central government," she said.
Banerjee urged the prime minister for his personal intervention.
In her letter to Modi on September 20, she claimed that 5 million people in the state were affected by the floods.
In his response to it, Paatil had explained that the releases were managed by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which includes representatives from the Central Water Commission, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and the DVC.
BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya accused Banerjee of politicising the flood instead of mitigating sufferings of people.
"Due to the rampant corruption by functionaries of her own party, no central funds could be used to stop recurrence of such situations. The irrigation canals and rivers were not dredged properly, and TMC leaders sold land and filled up waterbodies. The present situation is due to the CM's mishandling," he claimed.