Chandigarh, July 18, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has flayed the previous Badal and ruling Captain government in the state for their utter failure to check the extensive devastation caused by the fury of floods, saying that both have failed to come about with lasting solution to the perennial problem of floods during their longest stints in power, saying their hollow claims to tackle an unforeseen situation stood exposed.
In a statement issued from party headquarters in Chandigarh here on Wednesday, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly (LoP), Harpal Singh Cheema, said that the recent fury of floods in the state which had left a large number people marooned in the aftermath leading to the deaths of many of them due to the government’s insensitivity.
Cheema added that while the affected people of the flood-hit Bathinda city were fighting for survival, state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal and union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were, instead of accelerating the pace of relief and rehabilitation measures, were indulging in petty polemics targeting each other to earn some political brownie points.
The AAP leader said that the floods have not only exposed those at the helms of the political affairs but also the department concerned which stood exposed for the lack of its combative mechanism.
The AAP leader said that the incessant rains and the resultant deluge had caught the dispensation unawares leading to an unprecedented loss of life and property. Cheema said the deluge, besides causing a huge loss to lives and property, crops worth crores were destroyed in various parts of the state, thus aggravating the agrarian crisis, stating that the beleaguered farming fraternity was already fighting a grim battle for survival carrying heavy debt on their heads.
The AAP leader demanded that the state government should order immediate ‘girdawari’ of the affected areas across the state to assess the extent of loss caused to the crops damaged by the rains and order payment of 100 per cent compensation to the aggrieved farmers in the state, stating the state disaster management department had an annual allocation of budget worth billions of rupees.
