Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited the flood affected areas on Wednesday. Hooda reached Kurukshetra’s villages Narkatari, Thol, Durala, Jhansa, Tiba, Udarsi, Jhivhedi, Hansala, Khedi Markanda, Hingokhedi and Shahbad on foot and on tractors.
After talking to the people about problems faced by them, he gave instructions for early resolution of people’s problems. He also looked at the condition of the fields and residential areas from Kurukshetra, Shahabad and Ambala. Hooda said the waterlogging has become a massive problem and the government will have to work on a war footing to get the situation under control. He said the state government should take forward the relief work with the help of the Centre, NDRF and Army to protect the life and property of people.
Hooda said that if the government had taken precautionary measures in time, people could have been saved from this dreadful situation. “The government neither called a meeting of the Flood Control Board, nor got storm water outlets, sewerage and drains cleaned before the rainy season. If the government had fulfilled its responsibility in time, farmers’ crops, shopkeepers’ shops and people’s houses could have been saved from submerging to a large extent,” he stated.
“The government should now not show any negligence or laxity. They should mobilise and deploy whatever resources they have to be mobilized for draining out rain water. Along with this, compensation should be announced for the people after assessing the damage caused by the flood,” he stated.
Hooda reminded that earlier in 1995-96 the state had to face floods. “Even at that time, compensation was given by the government to help people recover from the loss caused due to the floods. This time too thousands of acres of farmers’ crops have been destroyed due to floods, houses of many people have collapsed or cracks have appeared in them, shopkeepers’ shops have also been submerged. All these sections should be given proper compensation,” he stressed.
The former Chief Minister once again called upon the Congress workers to reach the flood affected areas and help people.
Talking to reporters, Hooda said that today the program of Maun Vrat Satyagraha was to be organized by the party in Kurukshetra against the conspiracy hatched by the government against Rahul Gandhi. But in view of the sudden flood situation across the state, the Satyagrah has been postponed.