Shillong, September 18: West Bengal Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for blaming the Union government over the flood situation in the state and labelling the crisis as a ‘man-made flood’.
“Neither you have taken any preventive or precautionary measures before the monsoons nor have you taken any steps to boost the infrastructure in order to tackle the annual problem,” the LoP wrote on X.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had blamed the Union government for the flood-like situation in the state while describing it as ‘man-made floods’.
Adhikari said that the flood-like situation in the state is essentially because of the failure of the state Irrigation & Waterways Department which failed to take preemptive measures.
He has also pointed out that the World Bank approved Rs 5,000 crore loans to the state government to build and operate new irrigation structures like flood walls, river embankment armouring, de-silting the adjoining rivers, creating small-scale storage structures, creek rehabilitation and digging canals, among others to manage the flood situation in the Lower Damodar Basin area.
“75 per cent of the funds have been drawn and there are no results visible on the ground,” the LoP alleged.
He said that every time Burdwan, Bankura, Hooghly, Howrah, East Midnapore and West Medinipur gets flooded, the Chief Minister sees it as a photo session opportunity to reach the spot with a 50-vehicle convoy and start blaming others for her inefficiency.
He also said that the people of West Bengal are tired of the Chief Minister’s public relations events and demanded that her administration should help people and make arrangements for baby food, drinking water and dry food items.
Adhikari has also advised the Chief Minister to shift people from the submerged areas on war footing.
“Set your ego aside and seek assistance from the army and NDRF,” Adhikari advised the Chief Minister. (IANS)