West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently criticized the central public sector undertaking Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), as her allegedly unilateral and deliberately releasing water from her dams during her Durga Puja festival flooded the southern districts of the state.
DVC dismissed the allegation and said that all the information about release of water is shared with the state’s irrigation department, but there is no response from the officials. This situation underlines a complex challenge, as DVC has to release water to ensure the safety of its dams, but the lower stream system of the river in West Bengal is no longer capable of handling the entire water volume, due to which many districts are flooded every year.
Dvc Roll and current status of
Multipurpose DVC, which operates Maithon, Panchet, Tilaiya and Konar reservoirs in Jharkhand and West Bengal, has been designed for flood control, irrigation and power generation. It has three equal stakeholders Central Government, West Bengal and Jharkhand State Governments.
According to the current data of the State Irrigation Department, the Maithon reservoir is at 483 feet (against the maximum of 495 feet) and the Pancht reservoir at 415 feet (against the maximum of 435 feet). However, these levels are within a safe range, but continuous water flow and heavy rains have forced DVC to start release water to create storage space and maintain structural security.
Secure drainage not possible in slayed system
West Bengal Irrigation Minister Manas Bhuiyan said that there is no common safe level of DVC water flow. Bhuiyan told PTI-language, “All this depends on the amount of water released by the DVC and the current state of the river floor.”
According to the DVC, in the monsoon meeting with the Government of Bengal, the public sector company has said that their canals are capable of handling 1.5 lakh cusecs of water. However, it is overall and it also includes the amount of rainwater coming down.
It exposes the root of the problem. The water carrying capacity of the veil rivers like Damodar, Kapaleshwari and Rupnarayan is severely reduced due to sediment, encroachment and rainfall. DVC officials say that these local factors, which are beyond their control, are important determinants in whether there is a flood from any released water.
Deadlock
A major, long -term factor that weakens the rescue of floods is the deposition of silt. The silt reduces the storage capacity of the upper reservoirs and, even more severe, blocks the bottom of the lower rivers, increasing their base level and reduces the area of water flow.
In which areas of West Bengal had more impact
The result is that many districts of South Bengal are facing heavy floods. According to Minister Bhuiyan, the Ghatal block of West Medinipur, which is geographically and perennial flood-sensitive area, has suffered the problem of floods six times this year. Other affected areas include East Medinipur, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and Lower parts of Howrah.
State response and forward way
The West Bengal government claimed that it has started the work of improving Nehras by creating thousands of ponds to strengthen silt from rivers, strengthen embankments and to reduce floods. DVC officials said that in the pre-monsoon meeting held last June last June, the state had indicated that their system could handle 1.5 lakh cusecs of water flow.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly urged the DVC and Kolkata Porteen Trust to help maintain river systems with programs to clean the flood situation in Bengal and to keep river systems with programs for cleaning and silt removal programs.
Minister of Bengal Government emphasizes
Bhuiyan emphasized the need for better coordination with the DVC to warn on time and release water, while DVC claims that state officials do not respond. In September 2024, West Bengal officials resigned from the major posts of the Board and Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRC). The solution requires long -term, coordinated strategy that includes large -scale sedimentary cleaning, durable silt management and modern reservoir operating protocols to break the annual cycle of floods and damage.
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