Blaming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for what it called as a “man-made flood crisis” in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday urged state Governor Banwarilal Purohit to order a judicial probe into the allegation.
A high-level SAD delegation submitted a memorandum to the governor at the Raj Bhawan and impressed upon him on the need for a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to book all those who had caused unimaginable misery to lakhs of Punjabis by failing to do their duties.
The delegation, led by Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, Bikram Singh Majithia, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Dr Sukhwinder Kumar, also urged the governor to send an assessment of the damage caused by the floods to the Centre so that an enhanced relief package could be given to the state.
The SAD delegation alleged that the state government failed to even get the damage assessed by the Central team which, they said, could be an impediment in the release of money from the Disaster Management Fund to the state.
They also urged the governor to direct the government to submit a comprehensive report on the damage as well as relief distributed among the flood-affected people so far besides where the Rs 218-crore funds received from the Centre has been spent.
The delegation informed the governor that girdwari had not been done as yet and demanded that interim relief should be given at the rate of Rs 25,000 per acre to farmers whose paddy crop had been destroyed and Rs 5 lakh should be given to householders whose houses had been damaged by flood waters.
Briefing the governor, the SAD delegation urged the former to direct the government to announce a one year moratorium on all cooperative and bank loans taken by farmers besides waiving off interest on the loans for the same period. It said the government should also level all lands which had been made uneven by deposition of silt in cultivated fields.
The SAD also made an appeal to him to get the Punjab excise scam probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) even as it requested for a probe into the role of the chief minister, excise minister and all others responsible for causing a loss of hundreds of crores to the state exchequer.
The delegation also urged the governor to declare formation of a union by employees of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) as illegal, stop the transfer of land to Haryana for construction of a new Vidhan Sabha building, withdraw the proposal to double parking rates for vehicles other than those from the union territory in Chandigarh, channelize the Ghaggar from Khanauri to Makror Sahib and create an elevated road between Shatrana and Shergarh village in Patiala on the Jammu-Katra highway to resolve issue of obstruction of the natural flow of water in the area.