Hoshiarpur- Former cabinet minister and senior BJP leader Teekshan Sood said in a press note that this time Punjab has faced the terrible tragedy of floods. Thousands of acres of crops were destroyed due to water entering many villages, houses, household goods and livestock were also severely damaged.
He said that if the Punjab government had cleaned the rivers and drains and repaired the embankments on time, the huge damage from the floods could have been avoided. The central government had sent Rs 12 thousand crore for disaster management, but instead of flood relief work, the Bhagwant Mann government only did politics and advertisements.
Sood said that like every year, instead of releasing water from Bhakra to Haryana, Punjab was also harmed by stopping it, due to which water could not be released on time. While hundreds of social service organizations are engaged in flood relief work, the Punjab government has not given a single penny to the victims.
He said that the Punjab government's announcement of compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre is only Rs 200 crore (for an estimated 1 lakh acres of crop), while Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has announced a relief amount of Rs 1600 crore after assessing the situation. With this, flood-affected farmers can get help of about Rs 80,000 per acre.
He raised the question whether the Punjab government will spend the money sent by the Center honestly on the flood victims or will it waste it like before.
Sood also said that the Prime Minister's announcement to rebuild the houses destroyed due to the flood under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, rebuild the schools under the Shri School Yojana and give Rs 2.5 lakh to the dependents of the deceased and the injured is also a big relief for the victims.
He said that even in this hour of crisis, the Aam Aadmi Party is only doing politics, which is completely unfair.