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Central team to visit flood-hit areas in Bengal

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday agreed to send a central assessment team to flood-affected West Bengal, thus sharpening the ongoing acrimony between the Left Front state government and Mamta Banerjee's Trinamul Congress.

The prime minister's decision came after BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Kailashpati Mishra met Vajpayee and impressed on him the urgency for central succour to the state which is reeling under devastating floods.

Trinamul chief Mamta has alleged that the Marxist government of Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has ignored flood relief measures as a result of which the people are suffering untold misery.

The Basu government, on the other hand, has charged that the Trinamul Congress, with the active connivance of the Vajpayee government, is blocking central help to West Bengal as it has been unable to impose President's rule in the state.

The bitter face-off between the ruling Marxists in the state and the National Democratic Alliance, of which the Trinamul is a constituent, has elicited much criticism as the flood-related toll looks set to cross 600.

Prime Minister Vajpayee has agreed to provide the maximum possible amount of foodgrains for flood-victims in the affected areas. However, senior government officials point out that the state had exhausted its quota from the National Calamity Fund and that the central government would send its team only after Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar, who is touring the state, returns to Delhi.

Senior agriculture ministry sources told rediff.com that the central team would be led by the agriculture secretary and would submits its report after "making a thorough assessment."

The prime minister would also be appealing to the state government to constitute an all-party team for relief and rehabilitation measures, in order to utilize the central funds, including foodgrain quotas.

The bad vibes between the Marxists and the Trinamul seem to have sharpened following the floods. While the state government is demanding that the Centre should immediately declare it as a "national disaster", the Trinamul chief has held it responsible for ignoring flood-relief measures and for enhancing the people's woes.

Significantly, NDA bigwigs including the BJP, the Trinamul and Samata Party leaders are visiting West Bengal to build up a case against the Marxist government.

Chief Minister Basu, his deputy Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta have claimed that they have already sent a preliminary report to the Centre on flood relief measures, but that the latter is only interested in extracting political capital out of people's misery.

Dasgupta said the damage from the floods so far has been estimated at Rs 3089 crore. Altogether, 144 blocks and 37 municipalities across nine districts in West Bengal have been inundated, affecting almost two crore people.

EARLIER REPORTS:
Bengal flood toll touches 597, many bodies undiscovered
WB govt deliberately caused floods: Mamata: PTI
Sonia to visit flood-hit Bengal on Thursday
High tide alert in parts of Calcutta
Flood toll rises to 516, waters enter Calcutta: PTI
Centre lacks will-power: Mukherjee
Flood toll rises to 450

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