March 15, 2016
Vivek Gupta on the lack of water at Farakka Dam
Sir, through you I would like to report that between yesterday and the day before yesterday, the Farakka Dam has completely stopped working. 2100 MW of power is no longer available to the region of Bengal and in neighbouring states like Jharkhand and Bihar. Apart from electricity, even clean drinking water is not available to the people of the region. When enquiries were made, we are were told this is due to the lack of water at the Farakka Dam. What lack of water? Sir, I do not know.
Through you, Sir, I urge the Centre to take immediate and drastic measures to restore water supply to the Farakka Dam so that electricity generation is restarted.
Sir, many years ago the sitting government in Delhi lost elections due to water crisis. I hope there is no connection of this incident with the upcoming Bengal elections. I hope not.
I hope lakhs and crores of people who are suffering daily are given immediate relief. Sir, officials have gone on record to say that till March 21, there is no way that normalcy can be restored. Sir, in ten days the amount of damage that will be done to the people due to lack of electricity and water will be tremendous.
Sir, through you, I would like to urge the Minister to give some reply on this matter today itself and inform us as to what steps he plans to take to solve this emergency, or else, Sir, this issue would turn into a national calamity and a national crisis.
Thank you.
