Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, worried over the flood situation in some West Bengal districts following discharge of water from barrages, called up Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday and assured her of Central help.
The Trinamul Congress supremo, however, complained to Modi against the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for causing a “man-made” flood. She also informed him in a letter about sending a report on the extent of damages to get central funds.
Banerjee got the call from Modi in the afternoon when she was going to visit Amta in Howrah, one of the worst affected districts, by road after cancelling her aerial survey in a chopper due to a fresh round of heavy rain.
The PMO tweeted, “PM @narendramodi spoke to WB CM @MamataOfficial on the flood situation caused by water discharge from dams in parts of the state. PM assured all possible support from the Centre to help mitigate the situation. PM Modi prays for the safety and wellbeing of those in affected areas.”
The Chief Minister was also planned to visit Udaynarayanpur in Howrah and Khanakul in Hooghly by road. But rising water level foiled her plan.
Banerjee later wrote to Modi, “Kindly refer to our telephonic conversation today on the grave man-made food situation in some districts of West Bengal due to unprecedented release of water from the DVC dams at Panchet, Maithon and Tenughat. Recently, there has been a low-pressure formation resulting in high rainfall in West Bengal and Jharkhand. Nearly, 2 lakh cusecs of water was discharged from Panchet, Maithon and Tenughat dams of DVC leading to severe flooding of huge areas in Hooghly, Howrah Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum and Paschim Medinipur districts.”
“Apart from the loss of 16 precious lives, there has been unprecedented displacement, suffering and loss of livelihood of lakhs and lakhs of farmers and people at large causing extensive damage to agricultural crops, fisheries, houses, roads, bridges, power lines and other infrastructure,” she added.
