West Bengal Floods: A Man-Made Disaster?

“We can’t go any further from here,” said the driver pointing at a roadblock ahead. As the vehicle stopped, curious eyes began peeping into the car.

Beyond the roadblock was Kultigari, a predominantly agricultural hamlet, which was facing the wrath of the Damodar River. Continuous discharge of huge volumes of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) had led to heavy flooding in the river basin region. Village after village was inundated overnight and the water did not recede for days.

A group of villagers sitting on the pavement by the roadside said that the road beyond this point was unpliable. Two narrow lanes branched out from the main road leading to the villages nearby. Both lanes were under water and the heavy flow made navigation difficult. Kultigari comes under Udaynarayanpur Block of Howrah District, a little over 50 kilometres away from the State capital, Kolkata.

Villages submerged, huts damaged

The main road that led to the village was heavily flooded, and the gushing water had eroded off much of the road, leaving it completely battered and damaged. Life, however, did not come to a standstill here. Six-year-old Surya Bag, wearing a red vest and carrying his tiny chappals in his hands, was seen expertly wading through the water that reached up to his upper torso. Once on dry land, his attention turned towards the camera.

Surya said that water began entering his mud house in the night and soon, his hut was flooded. The rapidly flowing water washed away the floor of his house. They stacked up a few bricks above the flowing water and put their ‘taktoposh’ (traditional wooden bed) on top. The entire family spent the night on the makeshift shelter. They evacuated in the morning.

Surya’s house is barely five kilometers away from the main road. He came there to see the flow of water. He said that inside his village, the water came up to his chest-level.

Close by, two women were seen trying to cross the road wading through the flooded water. Shivani Adak was also from Kultigari and her tale wasn’t very different from Surya’s. She said water entered their village in the night. The heavy flow has caused severe damage to their mud house. She had had to take shelter in a shop near the main road.

Water rushing through different ways

Mithu Bera, an ASHA worker, was on a field visit to the area. “Bhatekhori, Tholia, and Paschimpara are the worst affected; they are almost fully submerged in water,” Bera said. “About 80% of my jurisdiction area is under water. The force of water is higher than before; I think all the villages will be submerged. The water is coming through different ways from river and the canal, and is finding its way through different roads and channels. Villagers having brick-and-mortar houses have moved to their rooftops as the ground floor is completely inundated. Some have been evacuated to relief camps set up in nearby schools”, Bera added.

Every year, flood waters enter the villages in Amta-II Block of Howrah district, said Ramchandra Bera, a villager. It causes extensive damage.

Perhaps oblivious to the disaster playing out around him, little Surya and his friends got busy trying to catch fish from the flooded waters.

The State’s Chief Secretary, H.K. Dwivedi, has said that the release of large quantum of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) into the Damodar River and from Shikhatiya Barrage into the Ajay River has caused heavy flooding in the respective basins. In a press note issued from Nabanna, the seat of the government, Mr. Dwivedi said the water was released without prior notification. In its counter, the DVC said in a press conference that water was discharged after informing the State’s engineers.

Especially effected are the districts of Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan, West Midnapore, and Birbhum. The State government said that three persons, including a child, have died and over 22 lakh people have been affected. Several rivers criss-crossing these districts continue to be in spate.

Man-made disaster

Rescue operations were on in full swing in the flood-affected areas. Army and disaster management teams were working together. Relief materials, including food grains and water, are being distributed to those displaced or affected by the floods, Mr. Dwivedi said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has declared it a “man-made flood” blaming DVC’s discharge of water from its reservoirs. She urged for a long-term solution to the devastating situation. The lack of dredging in dams and barrages by Jharkhand has led to this excessive, unplanned discharge of water, causing the rivers to flood each year, Ms. Banerjee said in a press conference.

The state has already faced two floods in July and August this year.

Heavy rains, high discharge

A report by the State irrigation department said that water discharged from Durgapur Barrage was 2,04,000 cusecs on September 30, 2021. And the combined discharge of DVC was 1,00,000 cusecs. The report also said that the combined discharge from Darakeshwar and Gandheswari dams in Bankura was 1,20,000 cusecs, while it was 3000 cusecs from Mayurakshi Dam. Tilpara Barrage in Panagarh discharged 12,000 cusecs, Sikatia barrage on Ajoy river discharged 90,000 cusecs, and Kangshaboti dam 30,000 cusecs.

While the water-release figures do point at a grim situation, the rainfall figures were scary as well. The report said that Asansol and Bankura districts recorded their highest rainfall in history on September 30. Asansol in West Burdwan recorded 434.5 mm rainfall, while Bankura recorded 354.3 mm. Durgapur recorded 200 mm rainfall, Purulia 170 mm, Kangsabati 140 mm, and Phulberia 110 mm rainfall.