Even as the flood situation in West Bengal improved, three more deaths were reported from the State in the past 24 hours.
“Three more persons have died in the last 24 hours. The toll since July 21 (when heavy rain started) is 31,” an official of the State disaster management informed journalists at the State Secretariat.
Around 2,067 relief camps were opened in the 11 flood-hit districts where 165 villages spread across 104 blocks had been inundated due to heavy monsoon rain and release of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) dams in south Bengal since July 21.
“The (flood) situation has got better but the problem will rise again if water is released further. The quantum of water released was more than the amount during the 1978 floods,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said while leaving the Secretariat.
IAF rescues 9 persons
Indian Air Force helicopters rescued at least nine persons from flood-affected areas of Ghatal in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district. The helicopters also dropped 500 kg of food and medicines in Ghatal sub-division of Howrah district.
Several villagers were stranded in Pratapur and Harishchandrapur in Ghatal. Those rescued were mostly women and children and have been kept at a State-run rehabilitation camp.
People paddle their boats as they try to move to safer places along a flooded street in West Midnapore district in West Bengal.
On July 28, 2017, an IAF helicopter was pressed into action but the villagers refused to leave. Situation in Udaynarayanpur and Amta areas of Howrah district remained the same with large parts under water.
Both the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress raised the plight of the people suffering due to flood. CPI(M) State secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that instead of taking proper steps and providing relief to the people, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is passing the blame to the DVC by calling it “man-made floods”.
