CM Mamata Banerjee visits flood-affected areas in north Bengal, promises compensation for victims' kin

Kolkata: Even as the rain abated in some of the northern districts of West Bengal on Monday, vast tracts of land as well as long stretches of roads remained under water, while the disaster response personnel continued struggling to clear over 40 landslide points and to repair collapsed bridges all across the region to restore connectivity.

The death toll in the disaster rose to 28, and, according to the state government officials, it might go up even further when reports from all across North Bengal would be received. At least six people remained missing.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left Kolkata early on Monday. She told journalists in Jalpaiguri that the state government would pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family of each victim, in addition to a government job for a member of the family of the deceased.

“If the Centre had done its job of dredging of the Ganga-Hooghly river at several critical points, and if the DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation) had done its de-siltation works, if dams and barrages under control of the Union Government had not been used in this manner against us, and if central government had spent for the necessary public works in West Bengal rather than squandering funds away, our people would have been spared of the man-made flood in large tracts of North and South Bengal this season,” Mamata said in Kolkata.

The personnel of the National Disaster Response Force and the soldiers of the Indian Army joined the relief and rescue operations in the Mirik and Darjeeling hills, as well as in the flood-affected areas in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

Aarushi Chhetri, a student of Class III in a school in Mirik, was among the ones added to the list of deceased on Monday. She had gone to visit her grandmother and stayed with her overnight when the landslide killed her.

Himadri Purkait, a student of Jadavpur University in Kolkata, who was on a tour to North Bengal, is among the missing.

Thunderstorms and torrential rain from late Saturday till early Sunday wreaked havoc in the Darjeeling and Mirik hills, even as water gushed in from neighbouring Bhutan and Sikkim, and the overflowing Sankosh, Teesta, Torsa and other rivers flooded vast areas in the foothills and plains of North Bengal.

Hundreds of tourists, who were stranded in the hill stations due to landslides, were rescued on Sunday and Monday.

The deluge also displaced thousands of residents in several North Bengal districts.

The rain abated in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Jalpaiguri, but continued in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. The India Meteorological Department forecast that rain might abate all across North Bengal after Tuesday.

The chief minister said that the recent heavy rainfall and landslides had caused severe flooding across North Bengal, leading to loss of lives, livelihoods, and properties. “Dhupguri, Nagrakata, large parts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, as well as Matigara, Jorebunglow Sukhiapokhri, Mirik, and other areas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, are among the worst affected,” she said on the first day of her visit to the affected areas.

Mamata also criticised the Centre for not paying heed to her repeated appeal to constitute an India-Bhutan river commission to control and monitor the flow of water from the neighbouring country to West Bengal.