Namkhana, West Bengal: Lambasting the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government for its inability to control recurring floods in the state, Railway minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded that it prepare a master plan for flood control.
"For the past 32 years, the Left Front government has done nothing to prevent floods. Floods have become a routine.
The (state) Irrigation department is a third class department. They do not have a master plan. They must immediately prepare a master plan for flood control," Banerjee told reporters after visiting some of the affected areas by boat.
Describing the state government as 'callous,' she said it had done little to properly repair the embankments. "They do some rudimentary repairs of the embankments just before the monsoon and they get breached during the rains."
The Trinamool Congress chief directed her party-controlled zilla parishad sabhadhipati (head) Shamima Sheikh to take steps to properly repair the embankments in her area.
Alleging that the state government has failed to construct flood relief shelters in Namkhana and the worst affected Patharpratima blocks in South 24-Parganas district, Banerjee asked Sheikh to send a proposal to her for construction of such shelters and said she would provide funds from her MPLAD.