Despite no or minimal rainfall in the six sub-basins of Damodar, the Damodar Valley Corporation has still released water today from its Maithon and Panchet dams.
DVC sources said that due to release from Tenughat and Konar, water levels increased in Panchet dam. The DVC has released today 10,000 cusecs of water from Maithon and 70,000 cusecs of water from its Panchet dam.
The DVC water then flows through Damodar river to Durgapur barrage and then to Randiha barrage, under the irrigation department.
Large parts of south Bengal are inundated after DVC released huge quantities of water from its dams and barrages in the past few days. Anjani Kumar, DVC chief engineer, said that the water release has decreased today compared to yesterday.
Durgapur barrage sources said that it will take two more days to improve the flood situation downstream; it takes about 20 to 60 hours to reach the end points after water release.
In recent years, DVC has repaired its Maithon and Panchet dams, even the state government was forced to repair the gates of Durgapur barrage in recent years, otherwise the situation would have been even worse, officials feel.
Vast parts of the low land area in West Burdwan district are still under water and even agricultural fields are under water in Kanksha region. Mostly the areas surrounding the Damodar and Ajay rivers are affected.
However, the rivulets Nunia, Garui, Barakar and Tamla are still overflowing. These rivulets have lost their water storage capabilities due to siltation and encroachment.
The situation is even more grim in neighbouring Birbhum district. In the district headquarters, Suri, a control room has been set up. The marooned people are still rescued by the NDRF jawans.
Most of the sub-divisions and agricultural field are under water. The district officials have started inspection and rescue work. If there is no further rainfall, then the situation is expected to improve in the next one week.
District magistrate Bidhan Roy has directed to provide food and medicines in the flood rescue centres. Over 10,000 kaccha houses have been washed away and another 20,000 are under water. The crops are under water in Illambazar of Birbhum.
State government has sent various secretary-level officers to monitor the flood rescue work in the districts of south Bengal.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has today directed to seal the Bengal-Jharkhand border for the next three days to avert vehicles being washed away in floodwaters. The roads are inundated and water from the rivers is flowing above the roads and highways.