Water discharge from Damodar Valley Corporation dams floods streets, villages in parts of Bengal

KOLKATA: Life has come to a screeching halt in parts of Paschim Medinipur and Howrah districts, where additional water discharge from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) dams followed by heavy rain has inundated streets and flooded villages.

At least 212 relief camps have been set up in Paschim Medinipur, offering shelter to over 12,000 people as water having breached embankments entered their homes, officials said.

A local TMC office in Ghatal was washed away by a gushing stream of water, they said.

In Howrah, vast stretches of Udaynarayanpur and Amta, including medical facilities, lay submerged with the NDRF and the SDRF carrying out relief operations on war-footing.

Several arterial roads including the Udayanarayanpur-Tarakeswar stretch have gone under water, virtually cutting off link between Howrah and Hooghly districts.

DVC on Saturday said the storage facilities at Panchet and Maithon dams have reached their capacities due to heavy inflow of water from upstream Jharkhand, and discharge under such circumstances was “unavoidable”.

A DVC official stated that the corporation released 1.

14 lakh cusec of water on July 31, which is more than double the volume that was discharged the day before.

Water discharge is regulated by Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee, which has a representative from the state government, he said.

With the rainfall having stopped in these places, the water is expected to recede in a day or two, he added.