Mamata Banerjee dials Hemant Soren, discusses 'evolving flood situation'

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday spoke to her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren over the "evolving flood situation" in the state due to the release of water from Tenughat dam in the neighbouring state.

"Just now, I spoke to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren ji, and discussed with him the evolving flood situation. I discussed with him the case of sudden and huge release of water from Tenughat, which has already started flooding Bengal," the Chief Minister said in a message posted on social media platform X.

CM Banerjee said she had informed CM Soren that Jharkhand waters have been flooding Bengal.

Claiming that the situation was "man-made", CM Banerjee said that she requested CM Soren to look into the matter.

"I have meanwhile been monitoring the situation and have spoken to all the DMs concerned in South Bengal as well as in North Bengal. I have asked the DMs to be particularly vigilant and take proper care of the calamity situation in the next 3/4 days. I told them to take all precautionary measures so that there is no untoward incident anywhere," Banerjee's message read.

On Saturday afternoon, Alapan Banerjee, the chief advisor to the CM Banerjee, blamed the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for the current flood-like situation in different pockets of the state.

He told media persons that DVC decided to release 1,00,000 cusecs of water without prior consultation with the state government.

However, a senior DVC official, who did not wish to be named, refuted the charge of releasing water without consulting the state government and pointed out that the river regulatory committee, which makes decisions on releasing water from the dams, has representatives from both the Union and state governments.

The DVC official said the committee takes the decision based on the rainfall forecasts, and the water was released after considering various aspects like the water holding capacity of the dams and the extent to which water can be reserved there.