Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday described the flood situation in the northern districts of the state as “alarming” before accusing the Centre of neglect. She later flew to take stock of the situation in North Bengal.
The CM said while leaving for Siliguri in the afternoon, “North Bengal is under flood. Many districts like Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar have been affected.”
She added, “Different areas in Bihar and Malda and Dakshin Dinajpur districts of Bengal will be affected in the near future due to heavy rain in catchment areas of Koshi river in Nepal following the release of five cusec water. Same thing recently happened when water was released from Damodar Valley Corporation."
The Trinamul Congress supremo then trained her guns on the Narendra Modi government. "The Centre is not discharging its role to help the state fight against the natural calamities. It has not taken up the maintenance work of Farakka Barrage for the last 20 years. As a result, its water-bearing capacity has reduced to a great extent despite our repeated reminders to them."
She alleged that the BJP leaders used to visit West Bengal only during polls for votes but forgot about the state when it matters the most. Ms Banerjee claimed, “Only Bengal is being deprived of flood grants."
She also informed that her government has been tackling the situation on war footing basis and launched a public address system for evacuation of people living near rivers to safer places.
