AAP should stop playing politics, focus on rehabilitation of flood-hit people: Ravneet Singh Bittu

A day after BJP state chief Sunil Jakhar’s visit, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Minister of State (MoS) for Railways and Food Processing Industries, on Sunday visited some villages from where rainwater had not been drained out since the first heavy rain lashed the area on August 1.

State government officials cited waterlogging being the main reason for the plight of these villages in the Abohar sub-division.

Bittu was apprised of the flood situation by Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar. Later he visited Dalmir Khera, Pattibillah and Waryam Khera and interacted with farmers to get acquainted with ground realities.

He said Abohar and Balluana made 62 per cent contribution in fruit production in Punjab, but the state government in more than three years had done nothing to give relief to the farming community from waterlogging. The situation was turning so serious that the area might lose the Manchester and California of Punjab tag. No relief package had been announced for fruit growers also, he added.

Advising AAP leaders “to stop playing politics to cover their government’s negligence” in not getting drains, ponds and other water bodies before the rainy season, Bittu said the state government had officially demanded Rs 1,752 crore only under the disaster relief fund provision and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 1,600 crore.

AAP ministers had confessed that the state had not fully utilised the disaster relief funds received from the Centre in the past four years. He asked the state government to focus on the rehabilitation process of the flood-affected people.

The MoS said that he, along with BJP state president Sunil Jakhar, would try to meet PM Modi soon to request the allocation of a special package to bail out Abohar and Balluana villages from waterlogging that was set to ruin farming in future.

Caption: Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries Ravneet Singh Bittu during a visit to Abohar villages on Sunday.

Ready to accompany Mann to meet PM: Bittu

Fazilka: "We are ready to accompany Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the welfare of the flood victims of Punjab," said Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu during his visit to flood-affected areas of Jalalabad today.

He said the BJP government had already clarified that the Rs- 1,600 grant provided by the Central government was a token amount for compensation. He said after the assessment of the loss, more grant could be granted as per the demand.

“The BJP had already dispatched 60 truckloads of necessary material for the day-today needs of the flood victims,” claimed the Union minister.

Former Punjab Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani and Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar also accompanied Bittu.

Bittu lashed out at the AAP government for wanting to keep the PM away from Punjab by levelling false allegations against him so that the Central government could not take credit of extending full support to flood victims.

Accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of visiting Punjab after a month of floods, Bittu said the Congress was a divided house and could not take Punjab ahead in future too.