India, Oct. 7 -- West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday refuted allegations of administrative negligence while adding that the administration had alerted local residents in the districts of north Bengal hours ahead of the landslides and floods, caused by extremely heavy rainfall since Saturday late night.

Meanwhile, six more bodies were recovered from Darjeeling, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar since Monday taking the total death toll 33, officials said. This includes the bodies of a Nepali and a Bhutanese citizen swept down by transboundary rivers.

"Many people don't know that the administration had alerted local residents on Saturday evening hours before the disaster had hit that night. The death toll could have been higher....