A boat carrying several high-ranking officials assessing the flood situation in West Bengal’s Birbhum district capsized on Wednesday. The passengers included two Members of Parliament (MPs), one Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), the Birbhum District Magistrate and other administrative officers.
At least 13 officials including Bolpur MP Asit Mal, Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, MLA Abhijit Singh, District Magistrate Bidhan Roy visited the flood affected areas in Birbhum, where 15 villages in the Labhpur area remain submerged in flood waters.
All but one officer were rescued safely, with the Superintendent of Police managing to stay on board. The search for the missing officer is ongoing, with emergency rescue teams working at the site. Local residents rushed to assist in the rescue effort and disaster management teams responded promptly.
Heavy rain between September 13 and 16, combined with large releases of water by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), worsened the situation. The DVC released 1,30,000 cusecs of water on Wednesday, following earlier releases of 90,000 cusecs on Monday and 2.1 lakh cusecs on Tuesday.
Flooding has severely impacted regions such as Chandrakona, Debra and Ghatal in Paschim Medinipur district, Amta in Howrah and Arambagh in Hooghly, as well as Labhpur and Ilambazar in Birbhum. Agricultural land, homes, and roads have been submerged, while riverside villages in Bankura district have been flooded due to embankment breaches along the Kangsabati River.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed the recent floods in southern Bengal as "man-made" during a session of the state Legislative Assembly in Kolkata on Tuesday, September 3, 2024. The chief minister accused the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) of intentionally releasing excess water from its dams to protect Jharkhand from flooding at the expense of West Bengal.