The Mamata Banerjee government on Saturday asked the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to ensure that water was released from its dams in a staggered manner to avoid flooding of vast swathes in south Bengal.

Bengal chief secretary B.P. Gopalika in the afternoon held an emergency meeting with district magistrates and officials of several departments at Nabanna, the state secretariat, to review flood preparedness. S. Suresh Kumar, the chairman of the DVC, a central utility, attended the meeting virtually.

“In the meeting, the chief secretary told the DVC chairman that it must consult the Bengal government before releasing water from the dams. He also asked the DVC to release water in a staggered manner as incessant discharge submerges vast areas,” said a senior official who attended the session.

Following rainfall to the tune of 150-200mm in various south Bengal districts since Thursday afternoon, many areas of Hooghly, Howrah, Bankura, Birbhum, East Burdwan and West Burdwan districts have been inundated.

On Saturday morning, the DVC informed the state of its decision to release 50,000 cusecs of water from two dams. However, a source in the state irrigation department said the DVC had already released around 60,000 cusecs and 15,000 cusecs of water from its Maithan and Panchet dams, respectively.

Nabanna said it had inputs that the DVC was likely to release another 1,00,000 cusecs of water over the next couple of days.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been repeatedly alleging that the DVC opens dams without consulting her government, causing “man-made” floods in Bengal, particularly in a large area of the densely populated Hooghly and Howrah districts.

On Monday, the chief minister again raised the issue on the floor of the Assembly and demanded immediate dredging of the DVC dams by the Centre.

After Gopalika’s meeting, the chief minister’s chief advisor Alapan Bandopadhyay told journalists that the DVC was releasing water without consulting the Bengal government.

“We have heard it could release another one lakh cusecs of water in the next two
days. We have asked the DVC not to release such a huge quantity of water without
consulting the state,” said Bandyopadhyay.

“There will be a high tide on Monday and Tuesday. If such a large quantity of water is released at one go, several parts of Hooghly and Howrah would be inundated,” he said.

Parts of Hooghly’s Khanakul, Goghat and Arambagh, and Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur and Amta face floods annually, following the release of water from the DVC dams. Parts of Bankura, East Burdwan and West Burdwan also bear the brunt of this release.

Although the Met office in Calcutta did not issue any warning of heavy rainfall in south Bengal, there is a forecast of heavy rainfall in Jharkhand. A senior irrigation department official said as the Damodar and several other rivers originate from Jharkhand, heavy rainfall there would lead to a rise in the water levels of the dams.

“If Jharkhand receives heavy and incessant rainfall, the water level in the DVC dams will increase, forcing the authorities to release water,” said the official.

During the meeting, Gopalika instructed the district magistrates of Howrah and Hooghly to shift the people living in low-lying areas to shelters. The district magistrates have been asked to keep the state government posted on waterlogging and inundation.

After the DVC started releasing water on Saturday, the Trinamool Congress and the BJP locked horns over the “man-made” flood narrative.

“The DVC again released water to create a man-made flood. It does not release water in summer when the farmers need it for irrigation. As the water level rises because of heavy rainfall in Jharkhand, they release water to cause danger,” Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh wrote on X.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said: “The DVC always provides information to the state government regarding the release of water. Last year, the government alleged the same, and the DVC proved that it had communicated with the state government. The fact is that the state government does not work accordingly.”

NH12 blocked

Residents of Ranaghat and Habibpur on Saturday blocked NH12 for around an hour, protesting against the allegedly poor planning of a road widening project, which caused water-logging in several pockets following the rainfall in the past two days. The villagers said after the National Highways Authority of India raised the road level, the rainwater flowed into residential areas.