Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday blamed the Centre for the flood situation in the northern districts of the state. She also flagged her concerns over the Centre's plan for sharing water of Teesta river with Bangladesh.
Ms Banerjee said at the state secretariat Nabanna, “North Bengal has been flooded. Sikkim has been witnessing rainfall for the last few days. Many roads have been hit by landslides. This has left several tourists trapped. Every year parts of Kalimpong get hit by landslides due to flooding in the Teesta river during the rainy season.”
She elaborated, “There is a fear of blood in the North Bengal districts. We run a monitoring system every year to keep a tab on the situation. A contact number should be made available to the public for assistance. In Malda, riverbank erosion in Ganga has been reported in some places.”
The CM alleged, “It is the lookout of the central government. However it is not looking into the situation for the last 10-12 years. No dredging has been done at Farakka. The Centre is now talking about renewing the Farakka water treaty (with Bangladesh) without informing us.”
She claimed, “It is very unfortunate that we, being the main party, were not informed when the Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh discussed it. Talks of sharing water of Teesta also are on. But is there water in Teesta for sharing? If it happens, people of North Bengal won't get drinking water.”
The Trinamul Congress supremo even argued Teesta river has become dry due to 14 hydel power projects that have come up in Sikkim. “The central government should have taken care when these projects came up.”
