Jakhar tells party workers to videograph losses due to rain

Our Correspondent

Abohar, August 30

State Congress vice president and local MLA Sunil Jakhar today asked Youth Congress activists to visit each house ravaged by rain and get the loss of property videographed. He said he will present the video CDs to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal before the beginning of the Vidhan Sabha session.

While walking through the streets in the worst-hit Rajiv Nagar on Tuesday, he said slum areas had been ravaged by incessant rain that lasted for a week in September 2014 but now only three-hour rainfall on Saturday afternoon had created a similar situation. “Badal, during a visit on September 15, 2014, here had announced Rs 3-crore assistance to prevent the reoccurrence of such a situation but local BJP leaders were upset as the credit was attributed to me. They got tenders for the sewerage cancelled using influence of the state party leadership. I will convey sentiments of affected families to Badal sahib besides presenting the video CDs,” Jakhar said.

He said Deputy Commissioner Isha Kalia had yesterday asked the MC to clean the roadside drain to facilitate the lifting of water from Rajiv Nagar but the council has not initiated any step so far. “The Local Bodies Department is headed by a BJP minister (Anil Joshi) but the party leaders here have not been able to get regular posting of executive officer and municipal engineer done for the past many months. It’s a pity that the state government has not filled the post of the subdivisional magistrate for about five weeks. Abohar must have an IAS officer to serve as Additional Deputy Commissioner, the legislator said.

Jakhar alleged that the survey conducted in 2014 had indicated that 475 houses were damaged by rain here but compensation, purely on political basis, had been given to 175 families only.