Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the Centre of discrimination in releasing funds to West Bengal to combat the flood after visiting three flood affected districts: Malda, morth Dinajpur and south Dinajpur in north Bengal. She was accompanied by urban development minister Firhad Hakim, state chief secretary Moloy De and state director general of police Surajit Kar Purkayastha.
“We have no objection to the Centre's financial assistance to Assam and Gujarat. The magnitude of flood is no less in West Bengal than that of Assam and Gujarat. Each state should get its due. A report about the flood in our state is being prepared. It will be sent to the Centre. We also demand our share of assistance. It is justified,” she told the mediapersons.
The chief minister informed that the state has suffered a loss of Rs 14,000 crores due to the flood which claimed 152 lives so far and affected 1.5 crores of people. Pointing a finger at Bihar, Ms Banerjee complained that a dam has been demolished which caused the flood in the state. “The district magistrate (DM) has reported about it. If Bihar gets flooded then West Bengal suffers too. We have raised the issue,” she added. According to her, dredging is not done by the Damodar Valley Corporation in Farakka and Durgapur. Ms Banerjee demanded to the Centre to carry out dredging at regular intervals in the rivers. She claimed that the flood was caused by overflow of rivers. Ms Banerjee rejected the allegations of lack of distribution of relief materials to the flood-affected people.
“We never allow negligence in distributing relief materials. Around four lakhs tarpaulins have been distributed,” Ms Banerjee said.
