Mamata accuses Centre of denying flood relief funds to West Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) said that the central government does not offer flood and disaster relief funds for her State but offers help to Assam in times of need. She also alleged that excess water release from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has led to flooding in many districts in the lower Damodar region, however, DVC has denied all allegations of unplanned water release. 

Ms. Banerjee said that even after repeated warnings, the multiple dams of DVC have released heavy loads of water from Jharkhand and flooded West Bengal. She added that as Bengal is a land of water bodies filled with rivers, lakes, and ponds it suffers more during monsoons. She claimed that five lakh ponds have been dug up in the State in recent years to absorb some of the rainwater and reduce the burden on people. 

Places like Paschim Medinipur districts Ghatal, parts of Purba Bardhaman district, Khanakul, Arambagh in Hooghly district and Amta, Udaynarayanpur in Howrah district, and other places have been grappling with water logging for the past few weeks.  

“Be it DVC, Panchet, Maithon, none of them are listening to us. We have asked the Central government to do desilting work so they can hold an extra 4 lacs metric cusec water and help with this crisis. They have released over 27,000 lacs cubic meters of water between June 18 to July 15,” Ms. Banerjee said. She also said that they have been fighting this battle with the DVC water release and flooding for over 15 years but to no avail. 

However, DVC sources told The Hindu that they release water only after discussions with the committee which includes West Bengal government, Jharkhand government and the DVC authorities along with the Central Water Commission. “They take view of all the stakeholders and advices about water release and we follow that order only, we do not decide water release amount on our own,” a top level official at the DVC who wanted remain anonymous said.  

The CM also alleged that she has conducted multiple meetings and has urged the central government to find a solution. “People are facing huge losses. Assam gets flood relief money; we do not. They only release water here and abandon us… They get votes saying they will work for people, after the votes they only work for themselves,” Ms. Banerjee added. 

She asked all government administrative officials to maintain vigil and constantly monitor the flood situation closely and to create more relief centers than before to help people affected by the floods. The CM asked officials to keep snake bite anti-venom in stock and ensure that no open electric lines cause any electrocution accidents.