Betrayal vs lapses: Govt, Opposition clash as flood politics overflows

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday accused the Opposition of “politicising” the issue of floods, saying people would never forgive “these insensitive and opportunist politicians for their betrayal”.

Speaking on the first day of the special Assembly session called over flood relief efforts, Mann said instead of extending a healing touch, the “so-called” experienced politicians of the state were “spitting venom” against the government. Congress MLAs, including Leader of the Opposition Partap Bajwa, had sought to know about the status of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

They alleged a lacunae in administrative decisions in the release of water from dams and desilting of river beds. The Chief Minister said the special session was convened to discuss the rehabilitation of people in the aftermath of floods but due to a “myopic mindset” of Opposition leaders, it had been reduced to a “platform of criticism”. He said when Punjab faced any problem, the Centre “became insensitive” to its problems. Mann said after the Dinanagar terror attack, Punjab was “asked to pay for the deployment of the Indian Army”, which had come to neutralise the attack.

Asking all Punjabis to unite, the Chief Minister said it was the need of the hour to rebuild the state. The Chief Minister unequivocally asked the Opposition to stop the blame game as the floods were a natural catastrophe rather than being a manmade disaster as alleged by them. Mann said the state government had carried out the desilting of the drains effectively, adding that during the previous regime, 2,066 km drains were cleaned whereas his government had cleaned 3,825 km of drains in merely three years.

He said they had been “vehemently pleading for the desilting of Bhakra and Pong dams with the Centre as it has not taken place since last 70 years”. Mann said due to the desilting of the Ghaggar this year, despite excess water, no flood was reported due to it.

Coming down heavily on predictions made by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the CM said all the forecasts made by this agency were “irrelevant and far from the truth”. He said on one day, rainfall was recorded 1,961 per cent more than the prediction made by this agency which raised serious question marks over their credibility.