Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday expressed regret that the state government has not yet received a single paisa from the Centre to combat floods in the state. She addressed the media in Siliguri after holding an administrative review meeting at Uttar Kanya this afternoon. State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and state Sports minister Aroop Biswas were present at the meeting. The district magistrates of six flood hit districts attended the meeting, some physically and others virtually.
The meeting lasted for nearly one and half hours. Miss Banerjee will chair a Cabinet meeting at Nabanna tomorrow. She said: “It is most unfortunate that letters writen to the Prime Minister are answered by the minister of state. The story of Bengal is only deprivation. We have been deprived, deprived and deprived. We have not received a single paisa from the Centre for the flood-hit districts.” Two persons were washed away during flood at Bhutni in Malda and the Chief Minister handed over cheques of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of the two families as ex gratia. She also handed over a cheque of Rs 8 lakh to the next of kin of four members of a family who had been electrocuted at Gajoldoba. Chief Secretary Manoj Pant will take up with the Army the matter of repairing of the stretches on National Highway 10 which conects Sikkim.
Miss Banerjee said 6 lakh cusecs of water had been released from Nepal and this has caused massive inundation in Malda and Murshidabad. No dredging operaation took place at Farakka barrage for the past 20 years, she said, noting that had this been properly done, the barrage could have retained more water. “Water released from Bihar and Jharkhand has also inundated vast areas in north Bengal,” she said. She reiterated that the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) had released 5 lakh cusecs of water earlier this month without informing the state government. She urged people from Bhutni to remain at the makeshift camp for the next two days, observing that there may be rain and further water discharge from Nepal in the next two days. She said the police would be engaged to distribute relief. Miss Banerjee urged people to maintain peace during the Durga Puja.
“Vast areas have been flood-hit and every body should be alert to ensure that peace is maintained and see that no body uses the situation to create trouble.” She asked Mr Gautam Deb, mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation to reconstruct 22 shops at Bidhan market that had been gutted. She announced Rs 1 lakh compensation for the shops that were completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 for the partly damaged shops. Earlier, speaking to mediapersons in Kolkata before leaving for north Bengal, Miss Banerjee said: “ The Central ministers come to Bengal before the election. But they never show up after the polls are over. The Centre has not released money after floods hit huge areas in south Bengal. We have been deprived every time a natural calamity takes place,” she remarked.