Bengal flood situation: 10,000 people rescued; guv to visit affected areas

Expressing concern over the flood-like situation in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that 10,000 people have been rescued and kept in 190 relief camps in nine districts in the southern and northern parts of the state.

Banerjee, who is recuperating from a leg injury, said she is personally monitoring the situation round the clock from home and announced that leaves of a number of state government officials were cancelled as a part of the measure to contain the flood situation in the state.

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose is scheduled to visit the flood-affected districts in the northern part of the state on Thursday.

The northern part of West Bengal shares border with Sikkim which witnessed a flash flood in the Teesta river leaving at least 10 people dead, scores injured and around 80 others missing.

Taking stock of the situation at a meeting, Banerjee asked Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi and Home Secretary BP Gopalika to immediately send a team of senior officials to flood-affected areas of West Bengal.

"We have already rescued 10,000 people from low-lying areas in the districts. Already SDRF and NDRF teams have been alerted. I will monitor the situation 24/7 from home with a leg injury which may require another week to recover, she said.

Altogether 5,800 people were evacuated in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts in the northern part of the state, while 5,018 others were rescued in Howrah, Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura districts in the south, the state government said in a statement.

Banerjee also directed Dwivedi to start a 24-hour control room for people to register complaints due to the flood.

The NH-10 connecting Sikkim's capital Gangtok and Siliguri, the largest city in northern West Bengal, has been completely washed away near the Likhuvir-Setijhora stretch. Immediate repairs on war footing will be taken up as and when the water recedes in Teesta, the statement said.

The chief minister also said adequate relief camps were opened in the state and urged the affected people not to take any chance and go to these shelters.

Twenty-eight relief camps were opened in the northern part of the state and 190 in the south.

"I am concerned about Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri (in north Bengal). I asked several senior ministers and IAS officers to rush there to oversee rescue and relief operations. Close vigil is being kept to ensure no loss of life in the calamity," she said.

Governor Bose, who reached New Delhi from Kochi on Wednesday evening, will return to Kolkata early Thursday morning and straightaway travel to north Bengal to take stock of the flood situation there, a Raj Bhavan official told PTI.

Bose on Wednesday spoke to Governors of several neighbouring states of West Bengal, including Sikkim, over the phone for a better understanding of the flood situation.

"The governor also sought details of the situation from West Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi regarding the situation and also enquired about the precautionary measures taken by the state government," the official said.

The chief minister said that parts of South 24 Parganas districts, the Sunderbans, and Sagar Island were also affected by the floods.

"The 24/7 Control Room at (state secretariat) Nabanna is functional and can be contacted at (033)22143526 and 1070. Another 24/7 Control Room (with numbers 1800-212-1655 & +91-9051888171) at the Tourism Department is functional... The state administration has also started integrated control rooms in all districts," the state government said in the statement.

Senior ministers Partha Bhowmick, Arup Biswas, Udayan Guha, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Chairman Anit Thapa and senior bureaucrats rushed to North Bengal to oversee the rescue and relief operations.

"More than 8,000 cubic metres per second of water has been released from Teesta barrage which has resulted in flood-like situations in the downstream districts of Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar," the statement said.

It said that the formation of a low-pressure area resulted in heavy rainfall in south Bengal and neighbouring Jharkhand.

Besides, there has been a heavy discharge of water from DVC barrages at Maithon and Panchet and reservoirs of Mukutmanipur affecting districts like Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, Paschim Medinipur and South 24 Parganas.