On Bengal Floods, Mamata Banerjee's Big Move Against INDIA Ally-Ruled Jharkhand

Repeating her charge that the floods in West Bengal are a "man-made" disaster, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and blamed the release of water by the Damodar Valley Corporation from reservoirs in Jharkhand for the situation. Her government has also "sealed" the state's borders with Jharkhand, ruled by INDIA ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and stopped the entry of heavy vehicles. 

In her letter on Friday, Ms Banerjee said that all districts of South Bengal - Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipore and Paschim Medinipore - have seen devastating floods because of an "unprecedented, unplanned and unilateral release of an enormously huge volume of water at nearly 5 lakh cusec" from the Maithon and Panchet dams owned and maintained by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC). 

"The state is now facing the biggest flood in Lower Damodar & adjoining areas after 2009. More than 1,000 sq km of area stands affected and nearly 5 million people of the state have been drawn into the vortex of miseries for loss of crops, damages to public infrastructure & private assets, including houses, cattle etc," the Trinamool Congress chief wrote. 

"I am compelled to call it a man-made flood, a situation engineered by sheer neglect... If this unilateral approach continues, bringing hardship to the people of my state, we will be left with no option but to disengage entirely from DVC and withdraw our participation. We cannot allow this ongoing injustice to affect our people year after year," she warned. 

On Wednesday, Ms Banerjee had said that both the DVC and the Jharkhand government were saving the state by releasing water into Bengal - DVC from the Maithon and Panchet dams, and Jharkhand from the Tenughat dam. 

"The Central government's DVC and Jharkhand's Tenughat and Panchet... they have saved their own state and released water into Bengal," she had said while visiting flood-hit areas. 

She made the same allegation on Thursday as well and truck movement on the National Highway-2 has been completely paralysed after the West Bengal government banned the entry of heavy vehicles from the Jharkhand side at the Dibudih check post later that evening. Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Madhvi Mishra told news agency PTI that the West Bengal police have stopped vehicles at checkposts. 

BJP's Digs

Commenting on the developments, Assam Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma hit out at both Ms Banerjee and the JMM government in Jharkhand. 

"The people of Bengal are suffering from floods due to the failure of the Bengal government. But I am surprised that Mamata Didi is not venting her anger on her officers, but on the people of Jharkhand. She is teaching a lesson to the people of Jharkhand by sealing the state's border, and the honourable Chief Minister of Jharkhand is silent," Mr Sarma posted in Hindi on X on Friday.

He claimed the Jharkhand government was maintaining silence despite the BJP government at the Centre saying the state was not at fault. 'The people of Jharkhand should think whether they want to give a chance again to a party which is unable to protect the dignity of its state," Mr Sarma added, alluding to the Assembly elections in the state which will be held towards the end of this year.

BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, accused the Trinamool Congress chief of trying to divert attention from the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata last month and the protests that followed with her threat to sever ties with the DVC. 

"Is she making such comments fully aware of their implications, or merely for public consumption, given the rising protests against the rape-murder of a doctor at RG Kar hospital? The situation is revealing the misdeeds of her party, the TMC, and her government's health department... If Mamata Banerjee cuts ties with the DVC, eight districts will lose power. Does she not realise that DVC-run power plants supply electricity to a significant portion of South Bengal," he asked.

Centre's Take

In a statement, the Union power ministry said that all authorities concerned were informed about the release of water from the dams and that water is released on the advice of the the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which has representatives from the West Bengal and Jharkhand governments as well. 

All water release advices from Maithon and Panchet dams were made in consultation with the DVC and the Government of West Bengal, it said, adding that the Tenughat Dam, operated by the Jharkhand government, made a huge release of 85,000 cusecs. The Jharkhand government, the ministry said, refused to bring this dam within the ambit of the DVRRC.

(With inputs from PTI)