The West Bengal government on Friday reopened its border with Jharkhand for the movement of trucks for inter-state trade after keeping it closed for nearly 24 hours, The Times of India reported.
The state government closed the border on Thursday after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Damodar Valley Corporation of “flooding Bengal to save Jharkhand”. She blamed the corporation, which operates under the Union Ministry of Power, for the flooding in 11 districts in the state, The Hindu reported.
The corporation is a statutory body that manages the Damodar Valley Project, which comprises four dams in Jharkhand on the Damodar and Konar rivers and provides water for irrigation and power generation.
Check posts at the inter-state border in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Paschim Bardhaman districts were subsequently sealed, stranding thousands of trucks.
Banerjee cited the increasing water levels near National Highway 16 in Paschim Medinipur as a reason for the closure. “The Jharkhand border will be sealed for three days,” The Hindu quoted her as saying. “I do not want the trucks and cars entering our state to get submerged in water.”
After visiting several flood-affected areas on Thursday, Banerjee claimed that the Jharkhand government had the required infrastructure to prevent the floods.
“The floods are because of water released by the central government organisation DVC [Damodar Valley Corporation] from its dams,” she said. “The first thing we will do is sever all ties with the DVC.”
Banerjee also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the matter.
The power ministry responded that all concerned authorities had been informed about the scheduled release of water from the dams Maithon and Panchet dams.
Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil clarified that decisions on the release of water from the dams in case of heavy rainfall were always made by a committee that included representatives from the West Bengal government, The Times of India reported.
According to Patil, the West Bengal goverment had requested the Damodar Valley Corporation to reduce the volume of water released by 50% between September 14 and 17. Heavy rainfall on September 16 and 17 had made it necessary to release more water “to avoid a catastrophic impact on south Bengal due to possible dam failures”, he added.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, also criticised Banerjee for sealing the inter-state border. “The decision will cost her heavily,” party leader Supriyo Bhattacharya said at a press conference, according to PTI.
“If Jharkhand seals it borders, West Bengal will get cut off from western, northern and southern parts of India,” he said. “Goods vehicles are not responsible for bringing floods to your [Banerjee’s] state.”
The borders were reopened after Banerjee and Soren spoke over a series of phone calls, The Times of India quoted an unidentified official as saying.
Both Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the Centre.