A day after ordering the sealing of inter-state borders between West Bengal and Jharkhand for three days on Thursday, Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting his attention towards the release of an enormously huge volume of water in Bengal.
Eight districts of Bengal swamped
As per the letter, estimated to be around 5 lakh cusec of water released from the Maithon and Panchet dams maintained by DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation) have swamped eight districts of South Bengal, namely – Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, Poorba Medinipore and Paschim Medinipore.
Unprecedented release of water
Mamata Banerjee calls this release of water “unprecedented, unplanned and unilateral” which has devastated South Bengal and forced thousands of people to be displaced. “This huge quantum of discharge from the DVC dam system has never happened in the past”, writes the Bengal Chief Minister.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee writes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"…As a result of an unprecedented, unplanned and unilateral release of an enormously huge volume of water at nearly 5 lakh cusec from the combined system of Maithon & Panchet dams owned and maintained by… pic.twitter.com/H4EsHpa84I
— ANI (@ANI) September 20, 2024
Mamata Banerjee Vs Hemant Soren
Along with swamping eight southern districts of Bengal, the release of an ‘unprecedented’ amount of water seems to have washed away the bond between the two counterparts of adjacent states – Mamata Banerjee and Hemant Soren. Notably, both are allies in the INDIA bloc. Slamming the Jharkhand government, Mamata Didi said, “Why will DVC always try to protect Jharkhand? And why should West Bengal always suffer?” She further stated that she needed to protect West Bengal.
Reacting to her sealing of borders for three days, the Jharkhand government has given a stern warning to bar movement of goods trucks from Jharkhand to West Bengal. “If the water wasn’t released, reservoirs would have been damaged, flooding both states”, said the inter-state committee which monitors the release of water.
