Mamata’s Move To Seal Border With Jharkhand Over Bengal Floods Sets Dangerous Precedent

The release of excess water from reservoirs operated by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) — a central public sector undertaking (PSU) — in Jharkhand has affected an estimated 18 lakh people living in 11 South Bengal districts that have been flooded. 

Heavy rains in the catchment areas of many rivers in Jharkhand over the past few days had resulted in the DVC’s reservoirs in that state nearing their carrying capacities, thus necessitating the release of more than 5 lakh cusecs of water that have flooded the South Bengal districts.

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the DVC for “releasing water into Bengal to save Jharkhand.” She also accused the corporation of releasing water from its reservoirs in Jharkhand unilaterally without informing the Bengal government in advance, a charge that the DVC has vehemently denied. 

After returning from a two-day tour of the flood-affected areas Thursday (19 September), Banerjee held a meeting with her top officials and issued directives to seal the Bengal-Jharkhand border to stop all vehicles from entering Bengal from Jharkhand.

She also angrily announced that she was “severing all ties” with the DVC. What this means is unclear, but Bengal police set up checkposts on all roads and highways leading to Bengal from Jharkhand to stop vehicular movement. 

The Bengal Chief Minister’s order has triggered sharp criticism and a dire warning by Jharkhand that it will block all vehicles carrying foodgrains and other commodities from entering Bengal. 

Banerjee tried to pass off her blockade diktat as a precautionary measure to prevent vehicles entering Bengal from Jharkhand from being washed away by the floods in Bengal. But there are few takers for this incredulous explanation. 

The Bengal CM said she had called up the DVC chairperson as well as her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, requesting they stop releasing water from the reservoirs in that state. 

She is peeved that her request was not honoured. But both the DVC and Jharkhand CM had explained to her that not releasing the waters from the reservoirs could result in the dams bursting, thus causing a much bigger tragedy. 

Supriyo Bhattacharya, general secretary of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), said “water levels in Jharkhand’s reservoirs were nearing the danger mark because of heavy rain,” thus forcing the DVC to release excess water from the reservoirs.

“Our government will naturally protect the interests of the people of Jharkhand. Holding back the water would have damaged the reservoirs, and that could have led to massive floods in both states,” he added. 

A senior DVC executive told Swarajya that the Bengal CM’s allegation that the central PSU kept Bengal in the dark about the release of water is “simply not true.”

“Release of water from our reservoirs is monitored by an interstate committee. A senior officer of the government of West Bengal is a member of the committee. Bengal has been kept informed every step of the way,” the senior executive said. 

JMM’s Bhattacharya said if Bengal stops vehicles from Jharkhand entering the state (Bengal), the trucks carrying foodgrains and other commodities, including essential commodities, would be stopped from entering Bengal through Jharkhand.

Apart from the DVC, Banerjee also blamed the Union government for not desilting the DVC’s reservoirs in order to increase their storage capacities. 

But Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari accused the Mamata Banerjee government of failing to prevent the annual floods caused by the release of waters from DVC reservoirs in Jharkhand. 

“Every year when water is released from the reservoirs in Jharkhand, vast areas of South Bengal get flooded, and the CM terms it as ‘manmade floods’. But it is her government’s criminal failure to take preventive measures that causes the floods,” Adhikari told Swarajya. 

He said that despite huge sums of money being sanctioned for building embankments along river banks, digging irrigation canals, creating water storage structures like large ponds, and desilting the rivers in the South Bengal rivers to enhance their carrying capacity, little work has been done. 

“The World Bank had sanctioned a Rs 5,000 crore loan for these works. The Centre has also given a lot of money for flood control and irrigation. Where has all that money gone? Every time the rivers swell, embankments break, and floods occur,” Adhikari added. 

Seven districts of Bengal — Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, and Malda — lie along the interstate Bengal-Jharkhand border. According to Bengal police sources, checkposts have been set up in the roads and highways from Jharkhand entering Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, and Paschim Bardhaman districts. 

The unilateral sealing of the interstate border by Bengal is an illegal step that can also be construed as anti-national. Such steps seriously undermine not only interstate ties but also the unity of the country. 

“If other states start following the terrible example set by Bengal, we’ll have a grave crisis on our hands. All issues and disputes between states should be resolved through dialogue and in a mature manner. What Bengal has done is not only condemnable and childish but also extremely dangerous,” former bureaucrat N K Srivastava, who had served in the Union Home Ministry, told Swarajya. 

This is why the Union government must step in and warn Bengal to remove the checkposts and desist from imposing any sort of restriction on the free movement of vehicles from one state to another. If Bengal refuses to heed the Centre’s directive, as it is likely to, strong punitive action must be taken against Bengal. 

If Banerjee is allowed to get away with such aggressive acts that have an adverse effect on national unity and interstate ties, other states may follow her example. 

The Union government must, thus, make it abundantly clear to Banerjee that actions like blocking the movement of vehicles from a neighbouring state into Bengal will invite strong measures.