Dams release water, flood fears rise in Bengal districts

HOWRAH/TAMLUK/BURDWAN: With rain continuing for the past three days, fears of a flood-like situation in south Bengal increased as rivers rose and DVC dams released water.
DVC’s chief engineer Satyabrata Banerjee said the Bengal government had asked that not more than 40,000 cusecs of water be released. So 24,000 cusecs were released from Maithon Dam and 14,000 cusecs from Panchet dam. From Sikatia barrage, 18,000 cusecs of water were released. Durgapur barrage was discharging around 50,000 cusecs at 2pm.
The move by DVC caused panic in Udaynaryanur and Amta areas, as the water level in the Damodar, Mudeswari and Rupnarayan rivers got higher. Howrah DM Mukta Arya on Saturday held a meeting at Udaynarayanpur, where Howrah Rural SP Soumya Roy was also present, in which officials discussed how to tackle the situation. The DM told engineers to increase the embankment height with sandbags and asked for 12 flood centres to be kept ready.
An elderly couple died at Ram Chak area in Khejuri, East Midnapore, on Friday night as their mud house collapsed due to heavy rain. Panchanan Mondal (70) and his wife Lalibala Mondal (65) were declared dead when taken to hospital. Their son Kush, who is disabled, is in a serious condition.
Though rain continued in East and West Burdwan, the intensity reduced. West Burdwan DM Bibhu Goyel went to the control room and took stock of the situation.
Manoj Kumar Das (56), a private security guard and resident of Kulti, was swept away by a river on Friday. The body of engineering student Iftikar Alam (22), who went missing in the Garui river on Friday, was found near Kalipahari.
In East Burdwan, the irrigation department has started repairing the embankment at Guskara. The main road in Burdwan town was blocked as a tree was uprooted near Curzon gate. The executive engineer of Burdwan municipality, Amit Kumar Guha, managed to have it removed quickly.
In Ausgram area, BDO Arindam Mukherjee said 30 hectares of crop and a concrete bridge at Baburbandh had been damaged.
Ghatal town was flooded as the Shikabati river overflowed, said Ghatal SDO Souvik Chatterjee. Several families were rescued from Mansukha gram panchayat area and taken to shelters. People were asked not to go fishing.
Some areas of Arambagh municipality in Hooghly remained under water. Several hundreds took shelter at Kalipur, where police supplied them with food. Locals demanded immediate repair of the sluice gate.