Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee. | Photo Credit: Hind
On Tuesday (July 15, 2025), on Tuesday (July 15, 2025), the main Minister of West Bengal’s mamata Banatya said that the central government does not offer floods and assistance in disasters, but offers assistance to Assam at the time of need. It also claimed that excessive release of water from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) led to floods in many districts in the lower region of Damodar, but the DVC denied all the accusations of unplanned water release.
Mrs. Banerjee said that even after repeated warnings, more DVC dams have issued a heavy amount of water from Jharkand and flooded the West Bengal. She added that because Bengal is a country of water formations filled with rivers, lakes and ponds, they suffer more during monsoons. She claimed that five lake ponds have been dug up in the state in recent years to absorb part of the rainwater and reduce the burden for humans.
Places such as Paschim Medinipur Districts Ghatal, parts of the Purba Bardhan, Khanakul district, AmbAgh in the Hooghly and Amta district, UDayyanpur in the Howrah district, and other places have been faced with water in the last few weeks.
“Whether it is DVC, Panchet, Maithon, none of them listens to us. We asked the central government to do a bargain from 18 June to 15 July,” said Mrs. Banerjee. She also said that they were fighting this battle to release DVC water and flood for more than 15 years, but without success.
However, the DVC sources told the Hindes that they only release water after discussions with a committee that includes the government of West Bengal, the Jharkhand government and the DVC bodies together with the Central Water Commission. “All stakeholders and advice on the release of water are observed and we only follow this order, we will not decide to release the water ourselves,” said the highest level official at DVC, who wanted to remain anonymous.
CM also claimed that she had done several meetings and urged the central government to find a solution. “People are facing huge losses. Assam gets money for the flood; no. They don’t only select water here and leave us … They receive voices that say they will work for people, after a vote that work only for themselves,” Mrs. Banerjee added.
She asked all government officials to maintain vigil and constantly monitor the flood situation carefully and create more auxiliary centers than before to help people affected by floods. CM asked officials to keep the snake bites of the anti-venom in stock and ensure that no open power lines cause any electric current accidents.
Published – 16 July 2025 07:20 IS
