Punjab BJP holds AAP govt responsible for floods; seeks probe by ex-judge

Chandigarh, Sep 21 (IANS) Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Sunil Jakhar, on Sunday, held the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government responsible for the floods in the state.

He also demanded an inquiry into the floods by a retired judge.

BJP leader Jakhar told the media that a complaint has been lodged with the Chandigarh Police regarding the falsehoods being spread on social media blaming the Central government for the floods.

"The complaint has been lodged to expose the masterminds of the rumours."

The BJP leader said the Punjab government had convened the Assembly session merely as an attempt to divert the attention from the real issue.

He added that the investigation should focus on: how much water was released from each dam during the floods; when repairs of dams and headworks were carried out; and which company was given the contract for headworks safety inspections.

Presenting evidence, State BJP Chief Jakhar said the major destruction was caused by the Ravi river and the water into the river flowed from the Ranjit Sagar dam.

He added that the Ranjit Sagar dam is entirely under the control of the state government and has no connection whatsoever with the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) or the Central government.

He said despite heavy rainfall warnings in the Ravi catchment area between August 20 and 26, little water was released from the dam, and according to the government's own claims, 2.75 lakh cusecs of water were released on August 27.

On this occasion, he also shared a video of the Chief Engineer's statement with the media, in which the engineer claimed that 4.70 lakh cusecs of water entered through small rivulets downstream of Shahpur Kandi.

BJP leader Jakhar, however, said that between the Ranjit Sagar dam and the Madhopur headworks, there is no other river or rivulet that could bring such a huge volume of water.

He added that all of this water was, in fact, released from the Ranjit Sagar dam, which is under the control of the state government.

He questioned why the gates at the Madhopur headworks were not opened in advance after issuing warnings before the water arrived.

He also said that during the floods 45 embankments were breached, of which 42 were along the Ravi river, and the dam on this river is fully under the jurisdiction of the state government.

Raising another issue, he said that the company "Level 9", which was given the contract to inspect the strength of the Madhopur headworks gates, had no experience in hydrological sciences and was actually a firm dealing in research in social sciences.

He said that the government cannot escape its own culpability by suspending a few lower-level officers when it was responsible for awarding such a contract in the first place.

He added that the state has riverside embankments stretching 1,000 km and 800 km of drains (drainage channels), yet the Punjab government failed to clean the drains in time or strengthen the riverbanks.

--IANS

vg/khz