BOLPUR: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday stated she “didn’t care” if Centre shifted the Damodar Valley Company (DVC) headquarters out of Kolkata, including she didn’t need the organisation, which causes deaths of quite a few folks within the state by releasing water, to remain there.
“Allow them to (Centre) take DVC away. I don’t care,” Banerjee stated in Bolpur, the place she had gone for an administrative assembly.”They’ve eliminated the whole lot from Kolkata and there’s nothing left. They preserve a constructing (the DVC headquarters) in Kolkata, however won’t hearken to Kolkata and carry on releasing water, inundating Bengal and killing folks.”
Banerjee’s feedback got here a few week since she, on a go to to flood-affected areas in south Bengal, termed it man-made, accusing DVC of “unilaterally” releasing the water, with out consulting or listening to the state’s pleas. Following this, she had additionally shot off two letters to PM Narendra Modi – the primary asking for his intervention, and the second, after Union Jal Shakti minister C R Paatil refuted her “unilateral” allegation, saying she “respectfully” disagreed”. Earlier than that, she had additionally introduced that Bengal was “severing” all ties with DVC.
Following this, two senior DVC officers put of their papers: energy secretary Santanu Basu resigned because the state’s consultant within the DVC board, and irrigation and waterways chief engineer Uttam Ray as a member of Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), protesting in opposition to “unplanned and uncalibrated” water launch.
Twenty-eight folks had perished within the floods, Banerjee claimed on Tuesday, asserting monetary help of Rs 2 lakh to every of the bereaved households.
Whereas saying she didn’t care if Centre eliminated the DVC workplace out of Kolkata, Banerjee additionally noticed that Union govt was “eradicating” all vital central govt headquarters from the town. “What’s the usage of the workplace when central govt’s water sources division is taking all the choices? There are some babus who sit on snug chairs in Kolkata whereas DVC is inflicting man-made floods throughout Bengal,” she stated.
“I are not looking for an organisation that releases water and kills folks,” Banerjee stated, including, “DVC was set as much as shield folks from floods. As a substitute, they’re releasing 4 lakh cusecs water at one go. We have now requested them to launch 10,000 cusecs in phases, in order that our land can take up it. As a substitute, are you able to think about, they launched water as much as the extent of three flooring at one go.”
She additionally instructed social gathering MPs and MLAs to make use of their funds for rural highway repairs as soon as the water recedes. “MLAs will use their funds to restore rural roads till March 2025, after the water recedes,” she stated, additionally directing social gathering MPs to make use of Rs 4 crore from the MPs’ fund for rural highway repairs and Rs 1 crore for repairing broken faculty buildings.
The CM stated she was suspending all administrative evaluation conferences until the tip of Chhath pageant (in early Nov), in order that govt may think about the flood scenario. “I’m visiting flood-affected areas. The water has simply receded in Birbhum. A number of areas, equivalent to Dubrajpur, Sainthia, Suri and Bolpur have been adversely affected,” she stated.
(With inputs from PTI)
