Mamata Banerjee on Sunday requested Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to regulate water release from his state’s dams, saying large discharges were causing “manmade” floods in Bengal.

“I spoke to the chief minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren ji, and discussed with him the evolving flood situation,” the Bengal chief minister wrote on her X handle on Sunday afternoon. “I discussed with him the case of sudden and huge release of water from Tenughat, which has already started flooding Bengal.”

She added: “I told him (Soren) that Jharkhand’s waters have been flooding Bengal, and this is man-made! I requested him to please take care of this.”

If the Tenughat dam, controlled by the Jharkhand government, disgorges a large volume of water, the Damodar Valley Corporation is forced to release water from its Maithan and Panchet dams, located downstream on the Damodar.

Water being discharged from the Durgapur Barrage on Sunday. Picture by Dipika Sarkar

Heavy rain since Thursday afternoon has flooded vast areas of south Bengal. The release of floodwaters from DVC dams has worsened the situation in pockets of the lower Damodar basin, particularly in Hooghly and Howrah.

At a meeting with district magistrates on Saturday, chief secretary B.P. Gopalika had asked DVC chairman S. Suresh Kumar not to release water from the Maithan and Panchet dams without consulting Bengal.

But heavy rain in the upper reaches of the Damodar prompted DVC authorities to release 1.2 lakh cusecs of water from their dams on Sunday, after having disgorged 75,000 cusecs on Saturday.

Mamata has repeatedly accused the central utility of causing “manmade” floods in southern Bengal. In the Assembly recently, she demanded that the Centre not allot funds to dredge dams and increase their capacity to hold water.

A source said Saturday’s release of floodwaters by DVC dams has flooded many villages in Khanakul and Arambagh (Hooghly) and Amta and Jagatballavpur (Howrah).

“We fear that Sunday’s release of 1.12 lakh cusecs from the DVC’s dams will increase the water levels in the Damodar and Mundeshwari from Monday morning. Then the situation will deteriorate,” a senior state government official said.

The Bengal government has asked district officials to be prepared for flood-like situations in south Bengal districts such as Howrah, Hooghly, Bankura and East and West Burdwan. Local administrations have opened relief centres in various pockets.

The East Burdwan district administration has alerted villages along the Damodar about water release from dams, requesting residents to take shelter in the relief centres.

Suryakanta Ghosh, 16, a Class X student, drowned on Sunday afternoon while bathing with a friend in a low-lying, flooded field in the Manteshwar area of East Burdwan. His body had not been found till late Sunday evening.

Several district magistrates, including those of Bankura and Hooghly, visited barrages and flooded areas on Sunday.

Mamata said she had been watching the situation in vulnerable southern districts as well as parts of north Bengal, with heavy rain forecast over the next couple of days.

“I have meanwhile been monitoring the situation and have spoken to all the DMs concerned in South Bengal as well as in North Bengal,” she wrote on X.

“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.”

BJP leaders countered Mamata’s allegation of “manmade floods” against the central utility by accusing her government of failing to dredge the irrigation canals annually.

“DVC always informs the state government about the release of water,” former state BJP president Rahul Sinha said.

“Amid heavy rainfall upstream, the DVC needs to release water. Otherwise, it would be a disaster as those dams would collapse (under water pressure). The floods occur because the state government doesn’t dredge its canals properly.”

BJP state general secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay questioned why Mamata always accuses the DVC of releasing water but is silent on the role of the Jharkhand government, as the Tenughat dam on the Damodar is controlled by the neighbouring state. Sources in the Bengal government, however, said the charge was not tenable as Mamata had already spoken to Soren.