CM Banerjee writes to PM Modi; threatens to sever ties with DVC

Leader of Opposition says that West Bengal would plunge into darkness if the State does not get power from the DVC

Highlighting that the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has unilaterally released an enormously huge volume of water in districts of South Bengal West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (September 20, 2024) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the State would sever all ties with the DVC.

The Chief Minister’s letter to the Prime Minister came a day after she had publicly made the statement of severing ties with DVC, which is headquartered in Kolkata.

“If this unilateral approach continues, bringing hardship to the people of my State, we will be left with no option but to disengage entirely from DVC and withdraw our participation. We cannot allow this ongoing injustice to affect our people year after year,” Ms. Banerjee said in the communication to the Prime Minister.

While posting the letter on social media, the Chief Minister dubbed it, “man-made flood, the worst we have witnessed in the lower Damodar since 2009” which has severely impacted over five million people in Bengal.

The Chief Minister who had visited flood affected areas of the State over the past two days said that she strongly feel “that the miseries of our people could have been substantially mitigated if this man-made disaster could have best been avoided by well-planned and calibrated dam management practices”.

In the communication, Ms. Banerjee said “unplanned and unilateral release of an enormously huge volume of water at nearly five lakh cusecs from the combined system of Maithon and Panchet dams owned and maintained by the DVC led to the devastation”. The Chief Minister said that the need for dredging and desilting the DVC reservoirs to restore their floodwater holding capacity has been highlighted to the Prime Minister and in other forums, including the Eastern Zonal Council, numerous times over the past ten years.

“However, actions from the Government of India and the DVC have so far been limited to studies, investigations, and half-hearted attempts to formulate projects,” she said. This is not the first time that Chief Minister had called the inundation of water in the low lying areas of south Bengal as “man-made floods”.

The Chief Minister had targeted the Centre and the DVC for the past three days over the flood situation in the State. Responding to the accusations, the Union Power Ministry in a statement said that all authorities concerned were informed regarding the scheduled release of water from the dams. All releases are as advised by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which has representatives from the Government of West Bengal, Government of Jharkhand, Central Water Commission (Member Secretary) and from DVC, it said.

The remarks by the Chief Minister evoked strong reactions by the Leader of Opposition, who also visited flood affected areas. Referring to Ms. Banerjee’s claim that she will sever all ties with DVC, Mr. Adhikari said, if the State government cuts all ties with the power generation utility then where will the State get its power from.

“Does Mamata Banerjee feel that West Bengal is a separate country? How can she even utter these words? How does she plan to generate/substitute the 4,300 MW shortage if she snaps ties with DVC? Or is she planning to take Bengal back to the dark ages?” Mr. Adhikari said. The Leader of Opposition said that the cumulative power generation capacity of the DVC in West Bengal is 4,306 MW; a staggering 69% of 6687 MW, which is the total power generation capacity of the DVC.

Published - September 20, 2024 04:55 pm IST