West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written another letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the flood situation in the state, stating that Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) released water from its reservoirs without consulting her government, resulting in inundation of several districts. Responding to Banerjee's earlier letter to the PM, Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil had said the state's officials were informed at every stage about the release of water from DVC reservoirs, which was essential to prevent a major disaster.
"While the hon'ble minister claims that the release from DVC dams was carried out by consensus and collaboration with the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee, including consultations with representatives of the government of West Bengal, I may respectfully disagree,” Mamata said.
She claimed that all the critical decisions are made unilaterally by representatives of the Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India “without arriving at a consensus”.
The Chief Minister claimed that sometimes water is released without serving any notice to the state government and the views of her administration are not honoured.
"Moreover peak release from the reservoirs lasting for a prolonged period of nine hours were conducted with only 3.5 hours notice which proved insufficient for effective disaster management," she said in the letter dated September 21, which was made public on Sunday (September 22).
What did Mamata say in her previous letter to PM Modi?
In her letter to PM Modi on September 20, she claimed that 5 million people in the state were affected by the floods, and urged him to immediately sanction and release central funds to address the widespread devastation.
In his letter, Paatil addressed the chief minister's concerns about the flooding caused by the release of water from the DVC reservoirs.
He explained that the releases were managed by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which includes representatives from the Central Water Commission, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and the DVC.
Paatil clarified that from September 14 to 17, the release of water from the Maithon and Panchet reservoirs was curtailed by 50 per cent at the request of West Bengal officials due to heavy rainfall.
(With PTI inputs)
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