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.
File Photo: ANI
Punjab Cabinet Ministers Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Hardeep Singh Mundian, Harbhajan Singh ETO, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Lal Chand Kataruchak and Laljit Singh Bhullar on Tuesday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing a meagre Rs 1,600 crore relief package for the state’s flood-hit people against the 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.
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Launching a scathing attack on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing such a measly relief package for flood victims of Punjab, the ministers, in a joint statement, said that the offering the 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”.
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The ministers said 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 step motherly treatment. When the backbone of Punjab’s agrarian economy is broken, what is needed is immediate and substantial support, not tokenism.
They 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. The Centre’s decision amounts to turning a blind eye to the plight of farmers, labourers and the general public who are struggling to rebuild their lives.
The minister further said that in these testing times, 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. In the same way, piecemeal relief cannot heal the wounds of a disaster of this magnitude,” they added.
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