Suvendu Adhikari letter to PM: West Bengal govt had info on Damodar Valley Corporation water release

KOLKATA: Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari, in a letter to the PM on Friday, rubbished the “man-made floods” allegation levelled by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee against Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), whom she accused of releasing water from dams “without prior notice”.
“The state government was informed on July 27 that the DVC will release water owing to heavy rainfall in the adjoining states. What did the DMs, BDOs and irrigation department do? Did they issue any public warning?” Adhikari said. He mentioned in his letter that there were at least two members from the state government in the Damodar Valley River Regulation Committee (DVRRC).
He also rebutted the CM’s complaint that DVC had released nearly 200,000 cusecs of water from Panchet, Maithon and Tenughat dams, which was nearly four times the ruled amount of 58,000 cusecs.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said Trinamool had blamed the party even for floods in north Bengal.
“What have they been doing for 10 years?” he asked. Junior Union ministers Nisith Pramanik and John Barla are expected to visit victims of floods and post-poll violence in north Bengal on August 18-19 as part of the BJP’s Shahid Yatra.