“West Bengal floods are man-made, DVC released water without notice”, Mamata Banerjee writes another letter to PM Modi –

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday wrote another letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which she alleged that the devastating floods in south Bengal were man-made due to unprecedented water release by the Damodar Valley Corporation. He said the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) released water from its reservoir without consulting the government, leading to inundation of many areas in West Bengal.

Earlier, Union Minister CR Patil, in response to Mamata Banerjee’s first letter to the Prime Minister, said that state officials were informed about the release of water from the DVC reservoir at every stage. He also said that it was necessary to release water from the DVC reservoir to prevent a major disaster. Mamata Banerjee, in her second letter, denied the claims of Union Minister Jal Shakti.

Also read: ‘Floods wreak havoc in Bengal, many areas submerged…’, Mamata Banerjee writes to PM Modi seeking help.

Mamata Banerjee wrote: “The Union Jal Shakti Minister claims that the decision to release water from the DVC reservoir was taken unanimously with the cooperation of the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulatory Committee and discussions were held with representatives of the West Bengal government for this purpose. But I disagree with this assertion. All important decisions were taken unilaterally by representatives of the Central Water Commission, the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Government of India, without consensus.

In her letters, Mamata Banerjee alleged that water was sometimes released without informing the state government and that the government’s opinions were not respected. “The maximum amount of water has been released from the DVC reservoir for nine hours and we were informed only 3.5 hours in advance,” he wrote in his first letter. How can effective disaster management be done in such a short time? In his first letter, he warned of withdrawing from the DVC agreement.

Also read: CM Mamata tells ‘conspiracy’ angle of Bengal floods, Jharkhand border also closed for three days

Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 20, claimed that 50 lakh people in the state were affected by the floods. He urged the central government to immediately release and sanction funds to deal with the widespread devastation. Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil responded to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s letter regarding the floods caused by the release of water from the DVC reservoir.

He said the decision on water release from DVC reservoirs was taken by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulatory Committee (DVRRC), which includes representatives from the Central Water Commission, West Bengal, Jharkhand and DVC. Patil also clarified that due to heavy rains from September 14 to 17, the release from Maithon and Panchet reservoirs was reduced by 50% at the request of West Bengal authorities.