West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in order to bring attention to severe flooding affecting South Bengal. The floods have impacted districts such as Paschim Bardhaman, Purba Bardhaman, Bankura, Birbhum, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur, and Paschim Medinipur. She remarked that that the state would cut off all ties with Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for unilaterally releasing water which led to floods in south Bengal districts.
In her letter, Banerjee attributed the floods to the "unprecedented, unplanned, and unilateral" release of nearly 5 lakh cusecs of water from the Maithon and Panchet dams, which is managed by the DVC. She called it the worst flood in Lower Damodar and surrounding areas since 2009, affecting over 1,000 square kilometres and nearly five million people.
The Chief Minister emphasised losses, including damage to crops, infrastructure, homes, and livestock due to floods. She noted that the state government is working tirelessly to provide relief, with evacuation efforts underway.
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Banerjee paid her visit to the flood-affected areas and reported witnessing "utter misery of lakhs of our people and unprecedented destruction of property and infrastructure." She marked the floods as an "unplanned and uncoordinated release of water by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) system," and called it a "man-made flood" caused due to neglegnce.
Through the letter, she expressed her displeasure at the DVC for failing to listen to requests from the state government regarding the rising water levels. Despite warnings about the critical condition of downstream rivers, the DVC increased the release of its water level from 90,000 cusec to 2,50,000 cusec within hours, causing the flood situation to worsen.
The Bengal Chief Minister demanded improved dam management, saying that "well-planned and calibrated dam management practices" may have lessened the suffering of the people.
In her letter, she claimed that siltation has caused the total live and flood storage capacity of the Maithon and Panchet reservoirs to decrease by 30 per cent. She urged the authorities to act immediately. She also criticised the DVC for allegedly harming West Bengal's interests by changing its emphasis from flood control to power generating. Banerjee also expressed alarm over the Ghatal Master Plan's inaction, which has made the area susceptible to flooding.