Jakhar, delegation meet Governor Purohit to discuss flood issue

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Punjab Chief Sunil Jakhar, along with his delegation met Governor Banwarilal Purohit in Chandigarh to discuss the recent floods that affected the state of Punjab as well as areas where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state government allegedly “failed” to take measures on time despite warnings of heavy rainfall to prevent losses suffered by farmers.
“We have requested the governor that answers should be sought from this government so that the people of Punjab come to know how because of negligence on the part of the AAP dispensation, the heavy losses caused due to floods could have been prevented,” Jakhar told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan after meeting the governor. “Crores of Punjabis who have been left to fend for themselves by this grossly inept, incompetent and callous regime while their houses and fields are inundated by flood waters. The misery and hardship being endured by Punjabis are partly of this government’s own making, which is still in deep slumber and refuses to learn any lesson for plunging the state into one mess to another,” Jakhar said, adding the government failed to handle the situation.
The BJP state chief also alleged that the government did not take necessary measures, including cleaning drains and strengthening embankments which led to the flooding. Jakhar further added that the majority of districts of the state are still badly affected by floods, laying bare any claim of planning by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led dispensation.
That the Chief Minister did not even care to hold a customary flood preparation review meeting of his senior officers—a Standard Operating Procedure that is done well before the onset of Monsoon every year—and his administration kept itself completely insulated from all alerts being issued by the Indian Meterological Department (IMD) amounts to an abdication of its responsibility towards people of Punjab, Jakhar said. In many areas, the danger looming large is the outbreak of diseases, the BJP leader said, adding the Bhagwant Mann government should wake up from its slumber and take necessary measures. He said ₹218 crore had been released by the Centre for relief measures.
Jakhar said fields in many areas in the state are still waterlogged, where sowing crops is not possible. He said the AAP government should give interim relief to the farmers, whose fields are still submerged, and compensate those who have suffered crop loss due to recent floods caused by heavy rains.