MERE RS.1600 CRORE RELIEF PACKAGE IN THE FACE OF SUCH DEVASTATING FLOODS IS AN INSULT TO PUNJAB
Punjab E News (September 9): Punjab Cabinet Ministers Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Harbhajan Singh ETO, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Lal Chand Kataruchak and Laljit Singh Bhullar today came down heavily on the Prime Minister for announcing a meagre Rs.1600 crore relief package for Punjab’s flood-hit people against the State’s rightful demand of Rs.80,000 crore. Terming the PM announcement as nothing more than a token gesture, they said it amounts to adding insult to injury for millions of people who have lost their homes, livelihoods and crops in one of the most devastating floods in Punjab’s history.
Launching a scathing attack on the Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi for announcing a mere Rs.1600 crore relief package for flood victims of Punjab, the Cabinet Ministers, in a joint statements, said that this paltry amount is nothing short of rubbing salt into the wounds of millions of suffering people.
“Punjab has witnessed one of the most devastating floods in recent history, which swept away homes, crops and livelihoods, leaving entire villages under water. In such a grim situation, they added, the Centre’s relief is a drop in the ocean compared to the colossal loss Punjab has endured.
The Cabinet Ministers said that the people of Punjab, who have always stood tall as the food bowl of the nation and the defenders of its frontiers, deserve better than such stepmotherly treatment.
The Cabinet Ministers further said that when the backbone of Punjab’s agrarian economy is broken, what is needed is immediate and substantial support, not tokenism. The Ministers stressed that the demand of Rs.20,000 crore was not a figure pulled out of thin air, but a carefully calculated estimate of the damage on ground.
They asserted that the Centre’s decision amounts to turning a blind eye to the plight of farmers, labourers and general public who are struggling to rebuild their lives.
The Ministers said that in testing times of disaster, the Prime Minister should have shown a big heart by rising above narrow calculations and extending wholehearted support to Punjab. “When the house is on fire, one does not count drops of water and in the same way, piecemeal relief cannot heal the wounds of a disaster of this magnitude”, they added.
