Senior TMC parliamentarians form both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will also join the delegation to raise a demand for Central funds, a TMC leader said
With at least six districts in south Bengal being hit by floods last week, the Mamata Banerjee administration has started pressing for central funds to implement a seven-year-old master plan to check the recurring floods.
The state government will soon send a team comprising Trinamool Congress (TMC) ministers and legislators to raise the demand before the Centre.
“The chief minister said that a team comprising ministers and legislators representing the constituencies, which are flooded, will soon head for Delhi and meet the union Jal Shakti minister to place the demand,” said a state minister, requesting anonymity.
Senior TMC parliamentarians form both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will also join the delegation to raise a demand for Central funds, a TMC leader said. The delegation is likely to head for Delhi soon as Parliament’s Monsoon Session is going on.
“We have been repeatedly telling the Centre to sanction funds for the Ghatal master plan, but they are not implementing it,” Banerjee said on Tuesday.
Last week, chief minister Banerjee had visited parts of Howrah such as Amta and Udaynarayanpur, which were hit by floods; on Tuesday, she visited Ghatal on to take stock of the situation. She called it a man-made flood as it was triggered after the Damodar Valley Corporation released water through its dam. Even though the water level is receding, several areas are still submerged.
The Ghatal master plan was drawn in 2014 by the TMC government. According to the plan, the Centre and state government have to bear the cost of the ₹1,238 crore project on a 50:50 basis. As per the master plan, several projects will be undertaken to desilt the rivers in and around Ghatal in West Midnapore district, repair the canals and build a dam on the Shilabati river, among other steps to check recurring floods.
“We have been hearing about this plan for several years now. Please visit the state government’s irrigation department website and search for the master plan. It will show you the ‘page is under construction’. This tells everything about why the plan has failed to take off till now,” said Jay Prakash Majumdar, BJP vice-president in West Bengal.
Meanwhile the India Meteorological Department’s regional weather forecasting centre in Kolkata has warned of more rain this week.
According to statistics shared last week, at least 23 people died and around 113,000 people had to be shifted to safer places. At least 400,000 hectares of farmlands were inundated.
