Bengal flooding: Mamata sends 2nd letter to PM

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday shot off another letter, her second in three days, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the ongoing flood crisis in the state and said Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) had released water from its reservoirs without consulting the state government and this had resulted in inundation of many districts.

“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. All the critical decisions are made unilaterally by representatives of the Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti without arriving at a consensus,” Mamata said in a letter.

She said sometimes water is released without notice to the state government and the views of her government are not honoured. “Moreover, the 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.