West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to undertake aerial survey of flood-hit Hooghly, Howrah today

HOOGHLY/MIDNAPORE: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will undertake an aerial survey of flood-hit areas in Hooghly’s Khanakul and Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur and Amta on Wednesday. A temporary helipad has been set up in Khanakul, where the CM is likely to hold an administrative meeting.
The state administration has already facilitated an IAF rescue mission in Hooghly’s Arambagh subdivision.Air Force choppers conducted sorties on Monday to bring 31 marooned villagers of Khanakul to safety. The state has set up shelters and the PHE department is supplying drinking water.
Irrigation minister Soumen Mahapatra claimed the DVC’s inadequate de-silting operations had compounded the flood situation following heavy rainfall in several districts, including East and West Burdwan, West Midnapore, Hooghly and Howrah.
A population of nearly 2.5 lakh has been rendered homeless in south Bengal allegedly after the DVC’s water release. Wall collapse, electrocution and snakebite have killed 14 people in less than a week, eight of them in West Midnapore alone. The government is planning a onetime grant of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of each victim.

In Hooghly, Arambagh, Chanditala I & II, Goghat I & II, Jangipara, Khanakul I & II, Serampore-Uttarpara, Goghta, Balagarh, Haripal, Tarakeswar and Dhaniakhli blocks are bearing the brunt. Dwarakesar and Rupnarayan rivers in Khanakul are in spate, and there have been major breaches along their embankments. The BDO office in Khanakul is underwater. In Pursurah, the Damodar is flowing well above the danger mark. Similarly, in Goghat, the swollen Shilabati is flooding its banks.
Over 345 villages and more than 78,000 people are affected in the district. Of them, 10,000 have been rescued and brought to 84 state-run relief camps. The bodies of a five year-old boy, Saurav Pramanik, and a 55-year-old man, Haradhan Pote, were found in a field at Kishorepur, Khanakul, on Monday. Labour minister Becharam Manna visited the spot.

Khanakul is basin-like because of which the release of DVC water has an adverse impact on it almost every year. The situation is equally grim in adjoining Ghatal, West Midnapore, which has a similar topography. Trinamool Congress MP Dev is expected to visit Ghatal on Wednesday.
In West Midnapore district, more than 64,000 people have been evacuated from 209 gram panchayat areas. Of them, 6,550 have taken shelter in 106 camps. Over 100 villages are underwater in Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur, where a teenage girl drowned on Tuesday. The link road between Amta and Udaynarayanpur has been washed away while Udaynarayanpur hospital is partly underwater.