NEW DELHI, SEPT 27: With floods scenario in West Bengal still remaining grim, the Left parties today demanded the Central Government declare the situation in the state a ``national calamity'', given the proportion of loss of human life and material damage.``The relief that has reached the state till date is only peripheral. Apart from the deployment of the Army, no material or financial aid has reached the state and its people who are great distress,'' CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Nilotpal Basu said.Accusing the Centre of being busy discussing the pros and cons of imposing Article 356, the CPI(M) leaders from West Bengal said that two-three assessment reports on the flood situation have already been sent to the Central Government but they are yet act on it.``We are only being assured that they (the Central Government) are doing something. But no special funds have been released for the state yet. That is why we are asking for declaration of national calamity,'' CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet.By West Bengal government's own estimates over 17.5 crore people have been rendered homeless and the death toll has been rising steadily (expected to cross 1,000).Even parts of Calcutta is under knee-dep water before Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's residence in Salt Lake and still worse in front of Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's house in Kalighat.Hence the demand for declaration of `national calamity' by the Left parties, which will immediately give the state Government assess to the National Relief Fund and the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.The Left Front government has asked for Rs 922 crore which they say is one-third of the actual damage already caused by the unprecedented floods. The Central Government released Rs 7.21 crore as relief for last year's flood as against a demand of Rs 29 crore.``We have been asking the Centre to send an assessment team immediately to see the plight of the people so that they can give a proper assessment of the damage,'' CPI(M), MP, Biplab Dasgupta said.Refuting BJP president Bangaru Laxman's charges of mismanagement of the river and partisan relief distribution, the CPI(M) MPs passed the buck saying, ``The major problem has come from the Damodar Valley Corporation which is under Central control.''``As for the relief, even the Army is finding it difficult to fly their choppers and reach the affected area. Where is the scope of identifying people and acting partisan with relief?'' Basu said.Claiming that the entire eastern India - Bihar, West Bengal and Assam - needs a proper indigenous management programme to counter the yearly floods, the Left leaders accused that the Centre neither released funds for a comprehensive scheme nor extended relief. Sonia to tour flood-hit areas Lending a quite hand of support, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will tour the flood-affected areas tomorrow. The Congress appealed to Centre to provide grant-in-aid to West Bengal to meet the serious situation arising out of the unprecedented floods.``The 11th Finance Commission has stated that whenever there are extraordinary situations, the Central Government could levy surcharge to extend grant-in-aid to such states. In the case of West Bengal also this could be done, instead of pleading that grant-in-aid cannot be given in the absence of National Relief Fund,'' Congress spokesperson Ajit said. The West Bengal PCC President Pranab Mukherjee has talked to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Chief Minister Jyoti Basu on the flood situation, Jogi said.
