Bhutan responsible for north Bengal floods, says Bengal Minister

EOI, SILIGURI, 17 JULY 2023: The Government of Bhutan is responsible for the flood situation in north Bengal, West Bengal Irrigation Minister Parthan Bhowmik said at Uttarkanya in Siliguri on Monday.

He blamed the Centre for not taking any initiative in solving the problems of Bengal. He said it was not possible for the State Government to solve this problem without the cooperation of the Centre. It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sent a team to Siliguri from Kolkata to assess the situation in north Bengal caused by incessant heavy rains for the past few days. 

Speaking to reporters, the Minister said that due to continuous rains in the past few days, the districts of Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri were facing conditions of flood and erosion.

The erosion in these areas was being caused mainly by the rivers flowing from Bhutan. 

The Bhutan Government had not reported the amount of rainfall in Bhutan, so no preventive action could be taken to control the flood situation. 

The Centre had been requested several times to approach the Government of Bhutan to take steps to solve this problem but they had not taken any steps, he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister said he would visit different affected areas of Alipurduar on Tuesday. On Monday, he visited many areas of the Jalpaiguri district. Then he held a meeting at Uttarkanya, the Branch Secretariat of North Bengal in Siliguri. 

The District Magistrates of five districts of north Bengal, the police administration, official of of the Irrigation and Agriculture Departments and the PWD were present at the meeting