The non-availability of weather inputs and hydrological data from the neighbouring country of Bhutan has emerged as a headache for the Bengal government which wants to mitigate the impact of flash floods caused by some of the principal rivers flowing through sub-Himalayan districts of the state, said state irrigation minister Partha Bhowmik here on Monday.

Bhowmik, along with some senior officials of the state government, reached Siliguri on Monday to inspect the damage caused by the flood that occurred in districts like Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Darjeeling last week.

“A number of rivers flow from Bhutan to the districts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. Whenever there is rainfall in Bhutan, the rivers swell and flood both banks. As we don’t receive any information on rainfall or data on the amount of water discharged from Bhutan, we face problems in taking precautionary measures to check a flood-like situation or to mitigate its impact in these areas,” said the minister.

He was talking to newspersons at Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the state, after having a meeting with officials of different districts.

In north Bengal, a number of prominent rivers like Jaldhaka, Torsa, Raidak and Sankosh descend from Bhutan.

On Sunday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee mentioned that the state is sending a high-level team to assess the damage and make necessary interventions to help the affected people.

Along with Bhowmik, secretaries of irrigation, agriculture and disaster management departments of the state are there in the team.

Speaking further on the issue, Bhowmik said that the onus is on the central government to take up the issue with Bhutan.

“It is an international issue and the state can’t act on it. The Centre should take immediate initiatives so that the meteorological and hydrological data are shared with us. The chief minister has already flagged the issue before the Centre,” he said.

After arriving here, Bhowmik visited Gajoldoba – the Teesta barrage area located around 25 kilometres from here – and some other localities of Rajganj block in Jalpaiguri district. He gathered information about the damages caused and the interventions made by the administration and other departments.

The team will visit some affected blocks of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. After the visit, a report would be placed before the chief minister, said sources.