Bengal flood: Guv asks Mamata to do her duty, not pass buck to DVC

West Bengal, Governor CV Ananda Bose on Friday shot off a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee advising her to carry out her duties following flood in the state and not to blame the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for the inundation, a Raj Bhavan source said.

Earlier in the day, he sent another letter to the CM enquiring about the flood situation and the preparedness of the state government to tackle it.

Banerjee, during the day, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi informing him that the state would sever all ties with DVC for "unilaterally releasing water" which led to floods in several south Bengal districts. Banerjee visited a few places affected by the deluge.
 

In the latest communication to her, Bose referred to a report of experts which claimed that the districts of Bankura, Birbhum and Paschim Medinipore "do not fall in the Damodar Valley river system and the inundation there was due to the extreme rainfall conditions over Kangsabati, Silabati and Dwarakeshwar rivers".

In this region, the DVC is not the authority concerned, the official told PTI, referring to Bose's communication.

The flood was also due to "huge releases from (state-owned) Mukutmanipur Dam on Kangsabati river which has breached protective embankments, Bose mentioned in his letter to the Bengal CM.

The dams maintained by the DVC were meant for flood control, irrigation, supply of water to industries, and drinking water purposes.

Bose also mentioned his observation that "a dam is only a barrier to mitigate and moderate a flood. It can by itself never be able to prevent a flood completely if the inflows are rising. If it were to do so it would only threaten the structural integrity of the dam and cause a bigger disaster if the dam were to give way.

Hence if inflows are excessive and the releases are not commensurate to the holding capacity of the dam, then it would threaten the safety of the dam. The West Bengal government is fully aware of this," he stated.

The Kangsabati dam which is maintained by the West Bengal government had also released water when it could not retain it any longer which was the primary cause of floods in the districts of Bankura, Purba, and Paschim Medinipore and Howrah districts, according to the experts' inputs which Bose included in his letter to Banerjee.

In the earlier letter to the CM, the governor enquired about the flood situation and the preparedness of the state government to tackle it.

Bose, who has constituted a task force that could predict the possibility of floods, has plans to visit a few of the flood-affected areas of the state.

"The governor has asked the CM to furnish an elaborate report on the steps taken by the state government to tackle the flood. He has also enquired about the preparedness taken by the state to mitigate the situation and ensure the safety and security of people in the areas where there is inundation, and also in places that may be affected due to the adverse weather conditions," the Raj Bhavan source told PTI.

Bose has sought a reply from the CM under Article 167 of the Constitution, which defines the duties of the chief minister.

During the flood in the districts of North Bengal, Bose had spent four days in the region.

As an IAS officer, Bose had served as the Central Drought Relief Commissioner and had handled different types of natural calamities in various states.

During the recent landslides and devastation in Kerala's Wyand, Bose who hails from that state, visited the place and prepared a project report to rebuild the area, the sources said.