Overview

• An overnight downpour among the heaviest in decades flooded Kolkata, and submerged live wires caused multiple electrocutions, with reports putting the toll between seven and at least ten as transport services were disrupted.
• Mamata Banerjee said CESC must take responsibility, deploy crews immediately and modernise its network, while a CESC executive said several deaths involved internal wiring or infrastructure not maintained by the utility.
• The Chief Minister urged CESC to pay Rs 5 lakh to each victim’s family and said the state will provide a government job to one eligible next of kin per family.
• Banerjee cited unilateral water releases by the Damodar Valley Corporation and a lack of dredging, along with high Ganga tides and inflows via Farakka, as factors that aggravated inundation.
• The state advanced festival holidays by closing government and aided schools on September 24–25 and asked government employees to work from home, with private employers urged to follow.