Bengal floods: Mamata writes to PM, threatens to sever ties with DVC

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (September 20, 2024) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the State would sever all ties with Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for "unilaterally releasing water" which led to floods in south Bengal districts.

In a four-page letter to PM Modi, she claimed that five million people in West Bengal have been affected by the floods and requested him to immediately sanction and release Central funds to address the widespread devastation caused by the deluge.

"I would like to draw your kind attention to the fact that as a result of an unprecedented, unplanned and unilateral release of an enormously huge volume of water of nearly five lakh cusec from the combined system of Maithon and Panchet dams owned and maintained by the DVC, all districts of South Bengal have been plunged into devastating floods causing severe-miseries to the common people," Ms. Banerjee wrote.