Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday refuted allegations of administrative negligence while adding that the administration had alerted local residents in the districts of north Bengal hours ahead of the landslides and floods, caused by extremely heavy rainfall since Saturday late night.
Meanwhile, six more bodies were recovered from Darjeeling, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar since Monday taking the total death toll 33, officials said. This includes the bodies of a Nepali and a Bhutanese citizen swept down by transboundary rivers.
“Many people don’t know that the administration had alerted local residents on Saturday evening hours before the disaster had hit that night. The death toll could have been higher. But many times people refuse to abandon their houses. I had a meeting with the chief secretary and the director general of police around 5 am on Sunday. Before 9 am, disaster management teams had rushed to the spots,” Banerjee said while addressing the media at Siliguri.
While a few people are still missing, several have been injured and a few thousands have been rendered homeless. While search operations are still continuing, relief and restoration work are going on in full swing. Community kitchen and relief camps have been set up in multiple locations. Roads and bridges were being restored.
Allegations of negligence had surfaced as Banerjee attended the Durga Puja carnival in Kolkata on Sunday evening. She left for north Bengal on Monday.
“The first 48 hours after a disaster are crucial for rescue operations. Some people are doing politics as to why the Durga Puja carnival was held in Kolkata on Sunday and why I didn’t rush to north Bengal. Had I rushed to the spot that evening, VIP movement would have hampered the rescue operations. What was the priority at that time? Was it to rescue people or was it to attend VIPs? We reached within 24 hours,” Banerjee said.
Even as Banerjee was visiting flood-hit Mirik on Tuesday, Union minister Kiren Rijiju and Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly Suvendu Adhikari also reached the flood-hit area.
“While the state government has announced a compensation, the kin of those who were killed will also get ₹2.5 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund. BJP MPs and MLAs have also announced to give ₹2 lakh to the kin of the dead. In the last 36 hours we BJP MPs and MLAs distributed relief items to around 15,000 people. We are going to distribute relief materials to another 35,000 people. At least eight BJP MLAs are running 21 community kitchens,” Adhikari told reporters.
“On behalf of the Prime Minister, I have come to meet the families of the victims and take stock of the situation of the areas hit by flood and landslides. After assessing the damages, I will report to the Prime Minister,” Rijiju told reporters at Bagdogra airport in north Bengal.
Meanwhile, a war of words broke out between Banerjee and the Centre with the chief minister alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government has not released funds to the state for flood management. The Centre refuted the charges claiming that it has released Rs. 1,290 crore to the state under the Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP).
“The Centre has not provided a single penny to West Bengal for flood management. Funds were released to every state except Bengal. But we are still fighting and trying to stand beside the victims,” Banerjee told reporters on Tuesday.
This is the second day in a row that she accused the centre of not releasing funds for flood management. Banerjee had accused the centre over the same issue. She had even said that despite writing to the Prime Minister urging to set up an Indo Bhutan River Commission with a representative for West Bengal in it, she didn’t get any response.
“No funding proposal related to these projects is pending with the central government. Central government has released Rs. 1290 Crore to Govt. of West Bengal under Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) so far. Under Ganga Action Plan and Namame Gange Project, a total of 62 projects and interventions worth ₹5,648.52 crore have been undertaken in state of West Bengal,” the ministry of Jal Shakti wrote on X late on Monday night.