Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who toured the affected areas on Friday, described the flood situation as “very bad”.

“Among the 15 affected blocks in East Midnapore, six are the worst-affected. In the western district, 17 blocks have been hit. The Army has been air-dropping food packets, medicines and drinking water,” Bhattacharjee said in Kolaghat.

A day prior to his tour of the affected areas, Bhattacharjee had held a meeting with state Finance Minister Asim

Dasgupta, Health Minister Surya Kanta Mishra and Relief Minister Mortaza Hossain and had announced a

relief package of Rs 6 crore.

Taking stock of the situation, Pradesh Congress Committee chief and Union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi slammed the Left Front government for its “callous” approach towards the situation. “The government was forewarned by the weather department, but its indifference led to the current situation. There was no contingency plan. I have spoken to Home Minister Shivraj Patil about the situation,” said Dasmunsi.

The state government has criticised the Jharkhand government for releasing 6.90 lakh cusecs water from the Subarnarekha barrage within last 48 hours without any prior information. Jharkhand is said to be reeling under the worst floods in over 60 years.

West Midnapore District Magistrate N S Nigam said Sabang, Pingla, Narayangarh, Keshiari, Sankrail, Nayagram, Danton and Gopiballavpur blocks have been hit the hardest. “In these areas, some remote parts have been cut off, making it impossible to undertake any rescue operation,” said Nigam. The Keleghai river is flowing above the danger mark and is reported to have severely damaged a rail bridge near Bakhrabad in Narayangarh. Railway tracks between Contai and Kharagpur have been submerged.

All trains to the Southern states have been cancelled for at least another three days, railway officials said.

Besides displacing people and destroying nearly 16,000 homes, the floods have also damaged crops worth crores of rupees. In Patashpur, Egra and Bhagabanpur I and II blocks of East Midnapore, over 2.5 lakh people are in relief camps.