West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee expresses concern over Teesta river

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, raising the Teesta water and the Farakka Treaty issues again, expressed concern over lack of water in Teesta during summer and its overflowing nature in Monsoon and also pointed out about the renewal of the Farakka Treaty.

“How can they give Teesta water? Sikkim has done 14 hydel power projects on Teesta. The Centre should have taken care when they (Sikkim) created hydel projects. All water was taken away by Sikkim,” Banerjee said today. “Earlier they called me for Indo-Bangladesh meetings, I had raised the issue.”

“They (the Centre) said the Farakka treaty will be renewed but Bihar is flooded,” Banerjee said.

Last month, Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing her grievance over the Centre excluding the state government from talks with Bangladesh regarding the Teesta water sharing with Bangladesh and the Farakka Treaty.

“There is almost a flood situation in North Bengal. Teesta is overflowing. It rains more in Bengal as it is dominated by rivers. Teesta overflows in monsoon but is dry without water in summer,” Banerjee said in Kolkata while addressing a review meeting at state secretariat Nabanna.

In the letter, written after the recent visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India, the Chief Minister while calling the discussion on Teesta “unilateral deliberations”, said that if the water is shared with the neighbouring country, people of north Bengal will not get water.

The West Bengal Chief Minister expressed concern over the flood situation in Bengal. Meanwhile, National Highway 10 has been damaged due to landslides in North Bengal and huge areas of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduars have been inundated due to huge rainfall and flood situation.

“Many tourists are trapped in the hills. Many stranded in Sikkim. In heavy rains, tourists should not venture to hills, the Bengal Chief Minister said, warning people to stay away from the hills.

The state Irrigation department starts 24/7 monitoring round the clock from monsoon months till October, she added.

Earlier, the Karala river in Jalpaiguri always overflowed. We have stopped erosion. Water from Bhutan flows towards Alipurduars and Jalpaiguri due to our state’s location. Every year we spend crores, in many places roads have been broken. We must inform the Centre, I am informing the DMs,” Banerjee said.

“We have created nine flood centres, where 500 people have taken refuge in Kranti and Malbazar areas of Jalpaiguri,” Banerjee said. She alerted Jalpaiguri Municipality and ask them to pull up socks for action. We stand by the people in times of flood-like situations and take action before calamity strikes.”

“In Coochbehar, Mathabhanga there are 500-600 people in relief shelters,” she said. Banerjee also announced that there will be two-three centralized helpline numbers and certain district numbers.

Urban, PWD, Power and all other departments should come together and work together. She also urged Kolkata Police-DG, ADG, DM and Police Superintendents to immediately solve the problems. Instruction should be passed on to lower levels,” she added.