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Bengal flood toll 300, accusations fly thick and fast

The flood situation in West Bengal continues to be grim with the toll shooting up to 300. Unofficial sources, however, put the toll at more than 400. Though the water in a few of the eight affected districts has reportedly receded, it has not brought much respite to the 10 million marooned people.

While Deputy Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya trained his guns on the meteorological department for not warning the state government on time, Finance Minister Ashim Dasgupta accused the Centre of not releasing adequate funds to tackle the crisis. Between all this, stranded people have complained that army personnel, involved in relief operations, are not doing their job sincerely.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya squarely blamed the weather bureau for not having alerted the government in time. "Since September 13, the Met department remained mum and did not bother to issue any forecast relating to the depression that was building up in the Bay of Bengal. It woke up only on September 19, after floods had caused devastation in seven districts. Had they informed us in advance, we would have been better equipped to tackle the situation," he said.

Bhattacharya also criticised the Eastern Railway General Manager I Rana for making, what he termed as, irresponsible statements. Rana had alleged that dilly-dallying on the part of the state government had led to train services being crippled throughout the state. Rana also said that the government's failure to carry out rescue and relief operation led to people taking shelter in railway coaches and repairing sheds.

Bhattacharya said, "The GM's statements are unfortunate. We will rescue all people who have taken shelter under railway coaches and different sheds soon," Bhattacharya said.

Meanwhile, a war of words has begun between Writers' Building and the Centre. Ashim Dasgupta said that while the Centre had announced a grant of Rs 1.4 billion from the Natural Calamity Fund, it had only released 'a meagre sum of Rs 100 million so far'.

"The Centre had agreed to release Rs 8 billion to West Bengal in the wake of the 1998 floods, but unfortunately the money never arrived. They have no moral right to raise eyebrows on our efficiency to fight the floods. Will someone ask the Centre why it failed to pay the sanctioned amount?" Dasgupta thundered.

On Monday morning, both Dasgupta and Bhattacharya left for the flood-affected districts to review the relief and rescue operations. The ministers also met officials of Nadia district and assured all help from the state government.

Talking to rediff.com from his office, the Nadia District Magistrate Vivek Bharadwaj said that there was no improvement in the flood situation. "Even though water has been released from the dams, the situation continues to be alarming in most of the areas. Dasgupta and Bhattacharya personally inspected the inundated areas and promised all help in rescuing and rehabilitating flood victims," Bharadwaj added.

However, stranded people have not been happy with the rescue and relief work, mostly carried out by army personnel. Many people in Ranaghat under Nadia district complained that the latter were not doing their work sincerely.

Said an elderly man, " They (army personnel) themselves are occupying most of the space in the motor boats, about ten army jawans in each. How do you expect them to evacuate stranded persons quickly? They appear to have come here on a picnic."

According to the state finance ministry sources, four helicopters, 850 mechanised boats and 26 high-speed army boats have been employed in rescue operations. Air dropping of food packets is still on, but those engaged in relief operation are finding it increasing difficult to pacify enraged flood victims.

There were many incidents of riots in Nadia, Murshidabad and Bardwan districts on Sunday when people clashed with each other over the dropped food materials.

Train services in the state have come to a grinding halt. All long distance trains leaving Sealdah and Howrah were cancelled on Monday. Down Mithila Express and down Darjeeling Mail were reported to be running late by eight and five hours, respectively. Eastern Railway sources said that they will have to cancel long distance trains even on Tuesday if the situation doesn't improve.

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