Bengal flood situation improves, death toll at 85

Kolkata: The dismal flood situation in West Bengal, which has claimed over 70 lives, has improved but the release of water from barrages continues to be an issue, Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee said on Tuesday. About 37 lakh people in 12 districts of the State have been affected by the floods. She is also scheduled to go to New Delhi next week to seek financial package from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the flood ravaged state.

Among others DVC has itself released 90000 cusecs of water since midnight last night, the minister added.

Fourteen more persons died in the affected districts, taking the toll to 83, Disaster Management Department sources said, adding, incidents of lightning, wall collapse, electrocution, snake bite and drowning were to blame for the fatalities.

A total of 2,213 relief camps have been set up for about 50 lakh affected people and 234 boats deployed for rescue and relief operations. “They also provided immediate medical assistance to the injured and sick people”, a defence release said.

According to the reports, almost 63 lakh people of 235 blocks, 53 municipal bodies, two municipal corporations and 781 gram panchayats covering 16414 villages were affected andmany houses as well as crops of over an area of 8,20,435 hectares have been damagedin the flood.

The decision to hold an all-party meeting came after the Opposition parties criticised the relief work of the state government and demanded a meeting to discuss the situation.

Earlier, Mishra and Congress legislative party leader Mohammed Sohrab had written to Banerjee asking her to convene an all-parry meet.

The flood situation in West Bengal showed improvement on Wednesday on account of little or no rainfall since Tuesday and a reduced quantity of water discharge from the barrages upstream, as the death toll rose to 85.

The DVC has refuted the charges, asserting that the release of water from its system was not the reason for flooding in the downstream areas. Find us on Facebook too!

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