Punjab floods: AAP resolution against Centre’s lack of response on ₹20,000-cr package
During special session of assembly, water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal moves resolution condemning PMO for not responding to CM Bhagwant Mann’s requests for meeting after token relief package.
The Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Friday moved a resolution in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha condemning the BJP-led Union government for its “lack of response and failure” to sanction a ₹20,000-crore special financial package for the flood-ravaged state.
The resolution also condemned the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for not responding to chief minister Mann’s repeated requests for a meeting.
The strongly worded official resolution on the “insufficient, belated and undisbursed relief package” from the Centre, was moved by water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal on the opening day of the two-day special session convened by the Punjab government to discuss flood relief and rehabilitation.
Describing the floods as the worst faced by Punjab, Goyal said the PMO’s lack of response had prevented the state from making a proper and comprehensive representation of the full scale of the disaster. The resolution expressed its “profound dismay” at the announcement of a token relief package of ₹1,600 crore, calling it a cruel mockery of the state’s genuine demand of over ₹20,000 crore for a full recovery.
It called upon the Union government to acknowledge the gravity of this disaster, revisit the assessed damages, and sanction a comprehensive and substantially enhanced special financial package of not less than ₹20,000 crore to support the farmers, rebuild the ruined infrastructure, and restore the livelihoods of the people of the state.
Punjab faced its worst floods in decades, triggered by the swollen Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and heavy rainfall that has affected 2,300 villages. The death toll stood at 59, while crops on nearly five lakh acres were damaged.
The relief package was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 9 after he conducted an aerial survey of affected areas and held meetings with political functionaries, top officials and flood victims of the state.
Goyal claimed that the state government had not received a single paisa from the financial assistance announced by the central government and demanded its immediate and full transfer. He said that the natural disaster, regarded as the worst and most destructive deluge since the 1988 floods which historically impacted over 34 lakh people, surpassed previous major flood events, including those in 1955 and 1978.
He also accused the India Meteorological Department and Bhakra Beas Management Board of making wrong forecasts and the mismanagement of dams, respectively, worsening the situation.
The discussion on the resolution moved by the AAP government is underway.
