Mamata targets centre over Farakka

After the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Farakka Barrage has become the latest flashpoint between West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Centre. HT reports. Mamata skips NSG hub inaugration | 'Govt needs states' | Trinamool keeps Cong guessing

After the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Farakka Barrage has become the latest flashpoint between West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Centre.

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Banerjee has alleged the Centre kept secret the damage to two sluice gates of the barrage, resulting in more water supply for Bangladesh than its share.

"It seems there is a deliberate and highly irresponsible move to keep the matter a secret. Only when the level of the Bhagirathi river (in Murshidabad) started falling did we realise something was amiss," she had said in a letter to the prime minister, the contents of which are now known.

A team of the union water resources ministry visited the barrage on Saturday and assured repairs within a few days.

Banerjee simultaneously kept up the pressure over NCTC, skipping the inauguration of an NSG hub here by home minister P Chidambaram.

He, however, emphasised that internal security was the shared responsibility of the Centre and states. "The Constitution assigns law and order to the state government and also assigns the Centre to protect the country against external aggression or internal disturbance," he said, without referring to the row over the anti-terror agency.