Punjabis want to know whereabouts of Rs 12,000 crore under disaster management fund: SAD

Chandigarh, Sep 10 (PTI) Punjab's opposition party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday expressed apprehension over the "misuse" of Rs 12,000 crore lying with the Aam Aadmi Party-ruled state government under the disaster management fund and demanded a probe into the matter.

SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal pointed out that the disaster management fund is a revolving corpus continuously replenished to enable the states to use it as and when required.

"Punjabis want to know the whereabouts of the Rs 12,000 crore referred to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to flood-affected areas yesterday," Badal and SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said in a statement here.

"This money was to be used to provide speedy aid to the flood-affected, but now the state is asserting that it does not have this money. This will endanger the entire flood relief and rehabilitation exercise," it said.

A probe is needed to ascertain if the guidelines of the Disaster Management Act have been violated and if this money has been misused by the AAP government, the SAD said. "If so, accountability should be fixed and exemplary action should be taken in the matter." Cheema said Punjabis should not suffer due to a standoff between the Centre and the State government on this issue.

"The farmers and farm labourers should get their due. Compensation should not be delayed. The entire Rs 12,000 crore should be made available for use in the flood relief and rehabilitation exercise, as stated by the prime minister. A separate probe can ascertain if the funds were misused by the state government," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a financial assistance of Rs 1,600 crore for flood-hit Punjab in addition to the Rs 12,000 crore already in the state's kitty.

The SAD has also demanded a probe into the management of the Ranjit Sagar Dam, whose control was with the state government.

Badal said that despite the prediction of heavy rainfall in the catchment areas, the water level in the dam was allowed to reach the danger mark before being released, leading to flooding in thousands of acres of land.

"This amounts to criminal negligence and should be probed," she said.

The SAD MP also alleged that the AAP government's "failure" to strengthen the gates of the Madhopur barrage had resulted in the collapse of one gate, compounding the misery of farmers. PTI CHS NSD NSD