Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda has assured that he will raise the demands of the flood affected areas in the Vidhan Sabha. Hooda, who is continuously visiting the flood affected areas of the state, today visited many villages of Palwal and heard the problems of the people.

People of many villages including Baghpur and Manjhawali gave a memorandum to Hooda and told about their demands. People said they are facing a lot of trouble due to waterlogging since many days and upto 95 percent of the crops in the area have been destroyed as the fields are submerged in 3 to 8 feet in the fields. People said the government is deliberately delaying getting Girdawari done so less loss can be shown after the water recedes.

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The villagers said the condition of health services and roads has almost collapsed after the departure of the Congress government. Diseases have spread in the area after the floods, for which the government is not taking any steps and the condition of the roads has become worse now. People of the area said no one came from the government to take care of the people. From agriculture, to shops and houses, there has been a huge loss due to the flood, but no efforts are being made by the government for drainage.

Along with Hooda, many senior leaders including State Congress President Chaudhary Udaybhan, former MLA Karan Singh Dalal, Lalit Nagar and MLA Neeraj Sharma were present on the occasion.

Addressing people, Hooda said the Meteorological Department had already given an alert for more rain this time, but despite this, the BJP-JJP government did not take any steps in time. “Neither the embankments of the rivers were strengthened, nor the drains were cleaned, nor were the means of drainage arranged. What is made things worse is that illegal mining has changed the direction of flow of rivers and canals for the last several years. Due to these actions of the government, the entire state had to face floods,” he said.

The Leader of the Opposition said that the government should not test the patience of the people any more. “The government should not mislead the people by entangling them in the web of portals. The government should give compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre to farmers, as soon as possible. Along with this, the government should also compensate for the loss caused to livestock. Farmers are facing shortage of cattle fodder, due to water-logging. The government should immediately arrange fodder. Along with the farmers, the government should also give proper compensation for the loss caused to the shopkeepers, businessmen and homes,” he said and he also termed the announcement of Rs 4 lakh each for the families of the deceased as insufficient, and demanded that it be increased to Rs 20 lakh.

In response to a question asked by journalists about CET, Hooda reiterated his demand to make it for all candidates. He said that the government is constantly playing with the future of the unemployed youth of the state.

“In the Parliament, the central government has admitted that the unemployment rate in Haryana during the Congress government in 2013-14 was only 2.9%, which has increased 3 times to 9.0% in 2021-22 during the BJP-JJP government. The unemployment rate at the national level is 4.1% and hence the unemployment rate in Haryana is more than double the national average,” he said.

“According to CMIE, the unemployment figure is even higher. Before 2014 during the Congress tenure, Haryana was the number one state in the country in per capita income, per capita investment, employment opportunities and law and order, but BJP-JJP has made Haryana number one in unemployment, inflation, crime and intoxication,” he stated.