Floods in West Bengal
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Floods in West Bengal
Subject: Geography
Context: Describing the flood as a “manmade one”, CM Mamta Banerjee held “unprecedented release of water from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) dam” responsible for the flood situation.
- Due to the flood, crops worth several crores have been damaged and people have been displaced in Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan and Midnapore districts.
- CM Banerjee has blamed Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for release of water which has led to inundation in Howrah, Hooghly and East Midnapore districts causing damage to crops worth several crores and displacement of people.
About Damodar Valley Corporation:
- The Damodar Valley Corporation was established in 1948 as the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India.
- Under this project, four dams were constructed namely,
- Tilaiya Dam: It has been constructed across the Barakarriver at Tilaiya in Koderma district of Jharkhand.
- Konar Dam: The Konar dam has been constructed across the Konar river—a tributary of the Damodar River in the Hazaribagh District of Jharkhand.
- MaithonDam :It has been constructed across the Barakar river near the confluence of Barakar with Damodar river.
- Panchet Dam: The Panchet dam has been constructed across the Damodar river, about 20 km south of the Maithon Dam.
- In 2020, the Government of India, the Government of West Bengal, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the World Bank had signed a loan agreement for a project titled ‘West Bengal Major Irrigation and Flood Management Project’.
Damodar River
- The Damodar river originates in the Palamu hills of the Chota Nagpur plateau in the state of Jharkhand.
- It passes through two Indian states namely, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
- The tributaries and sub-tributaries of the Damodar includeKonar, Barakar, Haharo, Bokaro, Ghari, Jamunia, Khadia, Guaia and Bhera.
- The biggest tributary of the Damodar River is the Barakar. The source of Barakar is located in the vicinity of Padma in Hazaribagh district.
- The Damodar occupies the eastern margins of the Chotanagpur Plateau where it flows through a rift valley and finally joins the Hugli.
- Due to the devastating floods caused by the Damodar river and its tributaries in the plains of West Bengal, it is also known as the ‘sorrow of Bengal’.
