Mamata Banerjee on Friday indirectly held the Centre responsible for the large-scale inundation in at least 20 blocks in south Bengal districts before calling the flood situation in the state “man-made”.

“I would have accepted had the floods been because of heavy rainfall in the state. But this was only because the dams of the DVC in Jharkhand released excessive water without consulting us.... This is a man-made flood,” the chief minister told a private news channel on Friday morning.

The DVC is a central government power utility and it was clear that Mamata was pointing fingers at the Centre.

Mamata said she would undertake an aerial survey of the affected districts on Saturday.

Sources close to the chief minister said she would make the repeated instances of flooding of south Bengal districts — because of release of water by DVC from its dams — a political issue to sharpen her attack on the BJP-led Centre.

The top brass of the Bengal government are of the opinion that lackadaisical attitude of the Centre in restoring and renovating the dams of the central power utility is the main reason behind regular inundation in the state.

“The chief minister had repeatedly written letters urging the Centre to take some concrete measures to renovate the DVC dams, but nothing has been done so far. This is why she is terming the floods man-made,” said a senior state government official.

Mamata, during an interview with the channel over the phone, said though several places in the state, like Asasnsol, had recorded heavy rainfall, the situation would not have turned “grave” had the DVC dams could hold more water.

“I have been talking about the need for de-siltation of the dams for the past several years, but they are not doing anything,” she said.

“You see... Bankura has been inundated. Asansol was under water yesterday. East Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly all are flooded because of this release of large quantities of water from Jharkhand,” said Mamata.

A source in the state irrigation department said, in her last letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year, she had specifically mentioned the need to de-silt Maithan and Panchet dams as successive surveys had pointed out how water holding capacity at the two dams was going down over the years.

“The chief minister had clearly mentioned that the DVC dams have a catchment area of about 1,000sqkm and that’s why a moderate rainfall in Jharkhand creates trouble for Bengal. Similar letters were sent in 2015, 2017, and 2019, but no action was taken,” said an irrigation department official.

Although Mamata sounded worried with the flood situation, she made it clear that her government would take all possible steps to minimise the miseries of marooned people. Besides instructing district officials to carry out relief and rescue work on war footing, she also deputed several senior cabinet ministers — like Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Subrata Mukherjee and Becharam Manna — to monitor the situation in the districts.

“We will take stock of the damage that the flood has done to the people and try to compensate those affected,” she said.

The army was deployed in West Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah. Sources said that 25 NDRF teams were deployed in the flood-affected areas.