India-Bhutan River Panel: Mamata Banerjee's Demand At Niti Aayog Meet

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday told the assembly that she demanded the formation of an India-Bhutan river commission at the recent Niti Aayog meeting in Delhi.

Ms Banerjee said this while speaking on a resolution regarding erosion control and flood mitigation in her state.

The Chief Minister also took exception to demands made by some BJP leaders over creating a union territory comprising two districts of Bengal and some in Bihar, and to make north Bengal a part of the northeast.

“I dare anyone to try to divide Bengal,” she asserted.

She demanded that an India-Bhutan river commission be formed on the lines of the India-Bangladesh river commission, so that information on rise in water levels can be shared with Bengal, too, to save life and property as rivers originating in Bhutan pass through the state.

Ms Banerjee urged Speaker Biman Banerjee to form a House committee, which will meet the Union irrigation minister and finance minister in Delhi on the issue.

“I have already raised the issue in the Niti Aayog meeting, and hope they will give due importance to it," she said, asking the state's Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay to send a copy of the resolution to the TMC MPs.

Ms Banerjee maintained that Bengal is one of the most flood-prone states in the country, with 43 per cent area vulnerable to flooding.

The Chief Minister also alleged that water discharge by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) affects several districts in south Bengal, but the Centre does not take any responsibility.

“Flood control and river erosion is a central subject,” she said.

Ms Banerjee lamented that Bengal has been “deprived” of flood mitigation funds, unlike other states like Bihar and Assam.

“I have no issue with other states getting the funds, but I want to know why Bengal has been deprived... Salute to the BJP government for this discrimination,” she said.

The Centre must take steps to save north Bengal from floods occurring every year, she asserted.

Ms Banerjee claimed that since she was opposing agreements over Teesta water sharing and demanding that the state be kept in the loop over renewal of the Farakka water treaty with Bangladesh, central ministers were making statements about separating north Bengal from the state.

“Is it that easy? We will prevent such moves, taking cues from the ways of Rabindranath Tagore,” she said, reminding the House of the struggle against the division of Bengal in 1905 and Tagore's ‘Rakhi Bandhan' as a symbol of unity.

Accusing the BJP of trying to divide Bengal, the Chief Minister said a resolution should be moved in the assembly against any such move.