Bengal floods: Mamata writes to PM Modi, threatens to sever ties with DVC

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday, 20 September, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state would sever all ties with Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for "unilaterally releasing water" which led to floods in south Bengal districts.

In the letter to Modi, the chief minister claimed that at least seven districts are currently facing the flood- situation because of the “unprecedented, unplanned and unilateral” release of around 5,00,000 cusecs of water from DVC’s Maithon and Panchet dams. She requested immediate release of central funds to address the widespread devastation caused by the floods.

"The state is now facing the biggest floods in Lower Damodar and adjoining areas after 2009. l earnestly request that you give this matter serious consideration and direct the concerned ministries to address these issues as top priority, including the sanction and release of substantial Central funds to undertake extensive flood management works in the interest of people, who suffer the most," she wrote.

She claimed that "unplanned and unilateral release of an enormously huge volume of water at nearly 5 lakh cusecs from the combined system of Maithon and Panchet dams owned and maintained by the DVC led to the devastation."

“This huge quantum of discharge from the DVC dam system has never happened in the past,” the letter read.

Claiming that West Bengal is facing the biggest flood since 2009, the chief minister in her letter has pointed out that a total of 1,000 square kilometres of area and nearly five million people have been affected because of the flood situation.

“I am compelled to call it a man-made flood, a situation engineered by sheer neglect and turning a blind eye to sustained requests from the stakeholder and long-suffering state government like us to address the technical, mechanical and managerial issues concerning the DVC system,” the chief minister claimed in her letter.

She also said that there is a need for dredging and desilting of the DVC reservoirs in order to restore their flood water holding capacity.