West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee again criticised the Central government and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) over ongoing floods in her state, during an administrative meeting at Burdwan.
However, while referring to the work her government has been doing for the affected areas, she said, “If you do five things, you may make a mistake. Instead of making a narrative out of it, let us stand by the flood-affected people.”
“DVC is under the central government, but as of today, millions of people’s houses are sinking due to a lack of action. Even a fraction of the money spent on votes could have prevented the flood,” Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister on Monday went to Burdwan and Bankura to assess the flood situation of the districts. “After seeing the flood situation of Bankura, I will stay at Durgapur. Tomorrow, I will go to Birbhum and hold another administrative meeting.”
She said that her government will “compensate farmers” for their losses due to the floods: “After the situation normalises, I will ask to measure the land, see whose land has been destroyed, and quickly arrange crop insurance money.” Banerjee said that the state now monitors the floods “24 hours a day”.
“All holidays have been cancelled. We have built many flood centers. But that is not enough. The dam is breaking. If necessary, we should see that we can use the schools for flood centres. The public works department has been asked to survey all the roads that have collapsed. The government will give money to build 11 lakh houses in December. The panchayat office has also been told to complete the survey work as soon as the water recedes,” she said.
The Chief Minister claimed that police have set up community kitchens in several affected areas. “Wherever there are floods, we are providing dry food packets. We have to see that no one is deprived. I told the MLAs to improve the rural roads as much as they can with the money they have in their quota. I will request the same to our party MPs,” she said.
“Unfortunately for West Bengal, the floods that happen here and in Assam do not happen anywhere else. The condition of Bengal is like a boat. When it rains in Jharkhand, our worries increase because they release the water to save themselves,” added Banerjee, reiterating her previous allegations about the state and the DVC.
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