Centre counters Mamata's 'man-made flood' charge, says water release was scientifically regulated

Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil on Tuesday rejected West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegations of ''deliberate flooding'' in the state by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), asserting that water releases from the Maithon and Panchet reservoirs were carried out scientifically and in coordination with all stakeholders.

Responding to Banerjee's claim that the DVC was ''anti-Bengal'' and responsible for a ''man-made catastrophe,'' Paatil said, ''The decision to release water is taken by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), chaired by the Central Water Commission (CWC), with representatives from the DVC and the state governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand.'' He noted that the Damodar basin received 815 mm of rainfall between May and July 2025, a significant surge compared to the previous years.

''This resulted in water inflows into the reservoirs during June-July 2025 being 16 times higher than in 2024 and 43 times higher than in 2023,'' the minister said in a post on X.

''Despite such pressure, DVRRC regulated water release scientifically, limiting peak discharges to 70,000 cusecs to reduce downstream flood risk,'' Paatil said.

Banerjee had alleged ''flood mismanagement'' and a ''systematic attempt to trigger more and more flood-like situations'' in south Bengal.

''The centrally administered agency has failed Bengal to an unprecedented degree,'' she alleged in a post on X, accusing the Centre of ''engineering a crisis'' through the DVC.

She highlighted a sharp spike in water outflows from 4,535 lakh cubic metres in June-July 2024 to 50,287 lakh cubic meters in the same period in 2025, and said the sudden release had devastated districts, damaged roads, breached embankments, and forced mass evacuations.

Calling it ''deeply disturbing,'' Banerjee claimed the ''30 times higher'' discharge compared to 2023 pointed to a conspiracy. ''This is not a natural disaster. The data speaks for itself,'' she said, demanding an immediate halt to such discharges.

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