Punjab BJP issues 'chargesheet', holds AAP govt responsible for recent floods

Chandigarh, Oct 7 (PTI) The Punjab BJP on Tuesday issued a "chargesheet", accusing the Aam Aadmi Party government of being responsible for the recent floods that caused extensive damage in the state.

Addressing mediapersons here, Punjab BJP working president and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma alleged that the Bhagwant Mann government did not take flood prevention measures before monsoon.

It failed to clean the rivers and drains before the rains and did not strengthen 'dhussi bundhs' (earthen embankments) along the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers, Sharma alleged.

The state government should have learned from the 2023 floods and taken adequate flood prevention measures, he said, holding the Mann government responsible for the flood damage.

"The pubic should know who is guilty," he said.

"Did the state government take adequate measures before the rainy season, did it fulfill its responsibility during the floods?" he asked, adding that the government has been a "complete failure before the floods, during the floods and after the floods." Sharma alleged that several villages were impacted by the floods because of the government's "mismanagement".

Rather than taking flood prevention measures in Punjab, the AAP government was busy with the Delhi assembly polls and thereafter with the Ludhiana West bypoll, he claimed.

The BJP leader demanded that the AAP dispensation produce details of the Rs 12,000 crore worth of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

"The state has over Rs 12,000 crore of SDRF. They will have to give an account of how much they have spent," he said, claiming that the state government has not submitted a memorandum to the Centre providing details of the flood damage.

"The people want to know who is really responsible for this (floods). That is why we have issued a chargesheet," said the MLA said.

Punjab faced one of its worst floods in decades, primarily due to the swelling of Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets due to torrential rainfall in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Heavy rains in Punjab exacerbated the flood situation.

The worst-affected districts were Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Fazilka and Tarn Taran. PTI CHS RUK RUK