Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to flood-hit areas in Hooghly and other parts of South Bengal today, which have been massively affected by the release of water from dams upstream in Jharkhand. Accusing the Damodar Valley Corporation of being responsible for the situation, she said, "The Central government's DVC and Jharkhand's Tenughat and Panchet, they have saved their own state and released water into Bengal".
Lakhs of people have been affected by floods, she said. "Look at the flow and speed of the water. Everything will go underwater at any time."
Ten districts in Bengal -- Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Jhargram, Bankura, Purulia, West Burdwan, and East Burdwan -- have been affected by floods.
On Thursday, the Chief Minister is expected to visit the affected areas in West Midnapore district.
A deep depression over Gangetic West Bengal has led to heavy rains in southern parts of the state over the weekend and on Monday. Jharkhand also saw heavy rains on Monday leading to release of excess water from dams.
The DVC or Damodar Valley Corporation released 90,000 cusecs of water on Monday night and 2.1 lakh cusecs on Tuesday. Ms Banerjee has spoken to her Jharkhand counterpart on Monday.
"This kind of water discharge had never happened before. DVC has released 3.5 lakh cusecs of water. I have talked with the DVC officials and the Jharkhand chief minister. But of no avail," she was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
In Bengal, district administrations have been asked to prepare flood shelters and stock adequate drinking water, medicines, and dry food.
"Flood like situation may occur in the lower basin area of the Damodar valley due to heavy rains and release of excess water from dams and barrages... Senior officers have been posted in the districts to handle the situation... People from low lying areas have been ordered," said Alapan Bandopadhyay, advisor to the Chief Minister.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari hit out at Mamata Banerjee and described her visit to the affected areas as a PR stunt.
In a post on social media platform X, he said, "CM Mamata Banerjee your ploy and strategy to shift blame is getting old and repetitive".
Accusing her of blaming the Central government, Jharkhand and then DVC responsible for floods in Bengal every time, he said, "The truth is that you and your Irrigation & Waterways Department are an utter failure".
"Neither you take any preventive or precautionary measures before the monsoons nor you have taken any steps to boost the infrastructure in order to tackle the annual problem," he added.