Punjab Congress leaders meet governor, urge him to press Centre to release Rs 10,000 crore for rain-hit state
Chandigarh, July 20
A Punjab Congress delegation on Thursday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit urging him to press the Centre to release Rs 10,000 crore to compensate the losses suffered by the state due to heavy rains and subsequent flooding.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, former speaker Rana K P Singh and former MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli were part of the delegation.
Addressing the media after the meeting here, Warring slammed the AAP government for being “ill-prepared” to handle the flood situation in the state.
Warring said the Congress delegation apprised the governor of the extensive damage caused by the flooding in many areas of the state and requested him to use his good office to press for the release of central assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to help Punjab recover, and compensate and rehabilitate its people.
He claimed five lakh acres of area has been destroyed in the flooding caused by the recent downpour and demanded compensation for the loss of lives and damage to crops, houses and other infrastructure.
Warring said the Congress has already asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to hold an emergency session of the state assembly to re-prioritise the budgetary expenditure for the rest of the year in the wake of the flooding.
Several districts of Punjab and Haryana were recently battered by heavy rains, leading to flooding of residential areas and vast tracts of agricultural land.
The Congress leaders also opposed the proposed move of giving land to Haryana in Chandigarh for setting up its additional state assembly building.
The Chandigarh administration had recently received a detailed proposal from the Haryana government on land swap for setting up the assembly building.
LoP Bajwa accused the Centre of deliberately making attempts to undermine Punjab’s claim over Chandigarh.
He said it is the duty of the governor, who is also the administrator of Chandigarh, to safeguard the rights of Punjab.
In the 2023-24 budget, the Haryana government had proposed allocation of Rs 50 crore for the construction of an additional Vidhan Sabha building here.
Haryana’s move to seek land in Chandigarh for constructing the building had evoked a sharp reaction from various political parties in Punjab, which had said that they would never allow it to happen as Chandigarh belongs to Punjab only.
