Badal blames Centre for plight of flood victims in Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the Congress-led UPA government's "ignorance" to ground realities faced by sufferers of natural tragedy have accentuated the woes of flood victims.
Addressing a gathering during his visit to flood-affected areas of the district here, the Chief Minister said he had raised the issue of relief and rehabilitation with the Centre, but of no avail.
Badal said, he had called Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for enhancing the relief amount for affected farmers.
Congress leaders were unaware about the ground realities and were hardly paying any heed to the suffering of flood victims, he said, adding, "The Centre must adopt liberal approach for compensating flood victims in this hour of crisis".

Due to persistent efforts of the state government, members of 14th Finance Commission have visited the flood affected regions and now a team of the Planning Commission would soon come to assess the loss, the Chief Minister said.
Badal expressed hope that these teams would help in tackling the menace of water-logging which has shattered the economy of the entire region.
Assuring the flood victims that no stone would be left unturned for their relief and rehabilitation, the Chief Minister said, the master plan regarding reconstruction of damaged installations and measures to tackle water-logging in the area would be unveiled within a month.

He said, survey was being conducted by the state government to assess the damage caused due to floods and reconstruction of roads and other public installations would be undertaken soon.