West Bengal floods: Jharkhand’s refusal to bring its dam within the ambit of a joint committee adds to the crisis

NEW DELHI: The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), a central PSU under the ministry of power, takes the West Bengal govt into the loop at every stage before releasing water from its Maithon and Panchet dams. However, the same was not done by the Jharkhand government while water was released from the state-operated Tenughat Dam, leaving the downstream areas off-guard and aggravating the flood situation.
The West Bengal government knew it, and that’s why it first reacted against Jharkhand and went for a blockade. Though the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee later wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi complaining against the DVC for its alleged "unplanned and uncoordinated" release of water, a preliminary fact-finding report made it clear that all releases from the DVC-controlled Maithon and Panchet dams were advised by the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which has representatives from the governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand, and the Central Water Commission (CWC).

"The Jharkhand govt-controlled Tenughat Dam, which is outside the control of DVRRC, made a huge release of 85,000 cusecs of water, adding to the problem in several districts of south West Bengal. Jharkhand has, so far, refused to bring the Tenughat Dam within the ambit of the DVRRC, making the situation during a few days of incessant rain in the state quite complicated," said an official in the CWC.
Referring to alerts issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the states, he said both West Bengal and Jharkhand were sensitised and asked to be prepared due to heavy rains.
Significant rainfall occurred in the lower Damodar valley area in West Bengal during Sept 14-15 and in the upper valley area in Jharkhand during Sept 15-16 due to a deep depression over both states. IMD records show that the weather department had issued an 'Orange' (be prepared) alert for Jharkhand for both Sept 14 and 15, and a 'Red' (take action) alert for West Bengal for Sept 14 in advance.
Referring to information shared by the DVC, the 'Jal Shakti' (water resources) ministry here claimed that all the protocols regarding prior intimation to all concerned authorities about the scheduled flood releases were followed by the Corporation and any reduction in the releases may have led to a much larger catastrophe in West Bengal.
DVC informed the ministry that against the combined peak inflow of 4,23,163 cusecs, the combined peak outflow was only 2,50,885 cusecs, resulting in flood moderation.
On the question, as raised by Mamata Banerjee in her letter to the PM on Friday, of whether the release could have been deferred, especially in view of the emergency provision of encouraging beyond the 'maximum flood management level' (425 ft for Panchet), the DVC informed the ministry that it took the responsibility of even permitting the Panchet reservoir to build beyond the land acquisition level and the maximum level, which reached 425.22 ft as of 5 PM on Sept 17.
Responding to Banerjee, the Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil informed her that the water release from both the DVC-controlled dams was "initially curtailed to almost 50% during Sept 14-17 on account of heavy rainfall in south West Bengal and on request from the state officials.

"However, due to very heavy rainfall on Sept 16 and 17, by the early morning of Sept 17, it became imperative for the Committee to substantially enhance the release in order to avoid any catastrophic impact in south Bengal due to possible dam failures," Paatil wrote to Banerjee.