BJP and Trinamool Congress lawmakers traded charges over the issue of non-allocation of funds for the hilly regions of Bengal which have experienced natural disasters, including the glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in October last year, which had led to a flash flood in the Teesta, unlike the neighbouring state of Sikkim.

On Tuesday, as Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the budget in the Parliament, she mentioned that Sikkim and some other states which have experienced flash floods and other natural disasters will get financial assistance from the Centre. She, however, didn't mention Bengal, even though portions of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts also got affected by the disaster.

Sitharaman's speech made chief minister Mamata Banerjee react.

“We have no problem if assistance is provided to Sikkim. But these people (the BJP) come to the hills ahead of the votes and then forget Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik. The hill residents should keep this in mind,” Mamata had said in Calcutta.

Raju Bista, the two-time BJP MP of Darjeeling, took exceptions to the chief minister's comments. The Bengal government didn't act appropriately to help the victims of the flash flood in the Teesta and those who got affected due to landslides, he alleged.

“The Bengal government has not yet declared the flash flood a disaster. Around 500 families were affected. An official designation of disaster would have enabled the state to spend up to 10 per cent of the annual allocation under the state disaster response fund (SDRF) to provide support to the victims,” said Bista.

The MP elaborated that in Bengal, the allocation for SDRF in the 2023-2024 fiscal was ₹1189.60 crore out of which ₹892 crore is the Centre's contribution while ₹297.60 is the state's contribution.

“The state could have used ₹118.96 crore (10 per cent of the total allocation) to help the victims. But it is not done to date, unlike Sikkim which immediately declared it a disaster and provided a detailed list of damages to the Centre,” said the MP.

He said that the Bengal government has approved ₹25 crore so far for the affected people of the flash flood. “We want to know where the money has gone,” said Bista.

On Wednesday, MP and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee asked why the Centre didn't provide funds for the flood victims even though BJP secured six of eight seats in north Bengal.

“In such a situation, the saffron camp is trying to bounce back to retain its support in the region, including the hills,” said a political observer.

Chandrima Bhattacharya, the minister of state for finance, dismissed the logic of the Darjeeling MP and said that it was the Centre's duty to declare a natural disaster and sanction money to the state.

“It is the central government that announces a natural disaster. We should not forget that this central government did not provide funds even after many cyclones hit Bengal. The Prime Minister toured the area by helicopter but did not sanction money to help the affected people,” she said.

“What the BJP MP has said, holds no basis. They are simply trying to save their faces and know well that the Centre is consistently depriving Bengal by halting funds,” added the minister of state.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty in Calcutta