Flood situation: Haryana govt can't escape blame, says Cong's Hooda

Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday attacked the Haryana government over the flood situation in the state, alleging that it did not make adequate preparations, despite warnings of heavy rain.

The former chief minister, who has in the past two days visited some flood-affected districts, including Ambala, said that "but the failure of the BJP-JJP government is also clearly visible in this as there was early warning of heavy rains, but the government did not make proper preparations to deal with the situation".

"Was a meeting of the Flood Control Board held or not? What decisions were taken in the meeting? How were those decisions implemented at the ground level? Where was the flood control budget spent? These are questions people are asking and are not getting any answer to this," the leader of opposition in the Haryana assembly, said.

Hooda said it is the responsibility of the government to get the drains and sewerage cleaned before every rainy season. "Also, the embankments in the river should be strengthened, but people are saying that no such step was taken by the government," he said in a statement.

Even the Dadupur-Nalvi canal, which was started during the previous Congress government, "was closed by the BJP as soon as it came to power", he alleged.

"With Dadupur Nalvi Canal no longer there, a large part of north Haryana has come in the grip of flood. Not only this, illegal mining in rivers has also become a major reason for floods, because the illegal mining mafia is working under the protection of the government... they have dug up the rivers in such a way that the direction of their flow changed towards colonies and cities," Hooda alleged.

Obviously, when the rivers and streams change their course, residential areas will have to face floods, he added.

Hooda said the government should not show any laxity now and stressed on the need to work on war footing for draining out flood waters.

Along with this, lakhs of acres of farmers' crops have been submerged due to floods, thousands of houses have also been damaged. Every shopkeeper has to bear loss of lakhs of rupees and industries have to bear losses running into crores. The government should give proper compensation to them as soon as possible, after assessing the loss caused to the people, he demanded.

Hooda lauded people who are coming forward to help in this hour of difficulty.

"Langar seva is being run at the gurudwaras continuously and farmers are engaged in rescuing people stranded in flood-affected areas on their tractors. Congress workers are also active in rescue and relief work in flood affected areas." he said.

"All these people are presenting the best example of brotherhood and humanity. Everyone should help each other in difficult times," Hooda stated.