Chandigarh, Oct 1 (PTI) Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Wednesday slammed the BJP-led Centre, accusing it of having an “anti-Punjab” attitude and also alleged “deceitful” handling of the state’s demand for a special flood relief package.
Referring to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday, Arora said the way the Centre presented “misleading” figures after the meeting was nothing “short of a betrayal” with Punjab and its people.
“Once again, the BJP government’s anti-Punjab and anti-Punjabi face has been exposed,” Arora alleged here.
After the devastating floods in Punjab, CM Mann met Shah and placed three major demands before him – a special package of Rs 13,800 crore for flood relief and rehabilitation, relaxation in norms for state disaster response fund for adequate compensation and special consideration and relaxation for crop damages due to heavy rainfall, including issues of broken rice, discoloured rice and high moisture.
“During the meeting, Shah had assured Punjab that the Centre would extend help as and when required. But just a few hours later, a press release exposed the truth. Instead of approving Punjab’s demands, the Centre tried to mislead by showing that Punjab already has Rs 12,590 crore available under SDRF,” Arora said.
“Even if the Punjab government were to fully utilise these funds according to the Centre’s rigid norms, not even Rs 1,200 crore can be released,” he claimed.
Punjab suffered extensive damage, including five lakh acres of destroyed crops, houses, schools, hospitals and roads.
At Rs 6,800 per acre as per the existing SDRF norms, just crop losses alone come to Rs 340 crore, he said.
Arora said CM Mann wrote to the Centre on August 31, demanding fair revisions in SDRF norms, like increasing death compensation from Rs four lakh to Rs eight lakh, disability compensation to Rs 1.5 lakh, and house damage compensation from Rs 6,500 to at least Rs 50,000.
“Tell me, in today’s time, can any family rebuild their house with Rs 6,500? The state government demanded a revision. Is this wrong? Is it wrong to ask for justice for our people?” Arora asked.
On the Rs 1,600 crore package announced by the prime minister, Arora said, “Out of this, Rs 805 crore is not new money at all, Rs 170 crore was already sanctioned by the NHAI long ago and other amounts are from existing schemes like the PM Awas Yojana. Even the SDRF advance instalment of Rs 260 crore, which would have come irrespective of floods, has been wrongly shown as part of this package.
“This is nothing but backstabbing Punjab at the time of tragedy. While people lost their homes, children lost their books and families are still struggling for food, the Centre is fooling Punjab with cooked-up figures.” PTI CHS MNK MNK
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