(source : ANI) ( Photo Credit : ani)
Punjab’s Legislative Assembly started its special session on Friday with a heartfelt tribute to 59 people who lost their lives in the state’s recent devastating floods. Speaker S Kultar Singh Sandhwan led the House in a moment of silence, honoring not just the flood victims but also other notable figures who passed away recently.
Among those remembered were former Punjab Minister Harmail Singh Tohra, ex-MLA Raghubir Singh, and several military heroes like Lieutenant Colonel Shaheed Bhanu Pratap Singh Mankotia, ALD Shaheed Daljit Singh, Lance Naik Shaheed Rinku Singh, Lance Naik Shaheed Pritpal Singh, and Sepoy Shaheed Harminder Singh. The assembly also mourned the deaths of popular actor and comedian Jaswinder Singh Bhalla, acclaimed music composer Charanjit Ahuja, and Ram Prashad Sharma, brother of MLA Ashwani Sharma.
The session, running from September 26 to 29, aims to focus on flood relief efforts across Punjab. But tensions ran high as Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa slammed the floods as a “man-made disaster.” Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Bajwa pointed fingers at the state government for mishandling dam water releases and criticized the central government’s aid as too little.
“We warned about heavy rains back in May and June, thanks to the meteorological department,” Bajwa said. “The Central Water Commission manages the dams, and Punjab got funds from the center for natural disasters. But why didn’t our state chip in its share?” He added that every part of society in Punjab feels unhappy right now, and the assembly—meant to solve people’s problems—should step up.
Bajwa didn’t hold back on the special session itself, calling out the lack of key discussions like Question Hour and Zero Hour. He also targeted Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Irrigation Minister, and the Irrigation Secretary, saying they bear personal responsibility. “If they’d released water gradually from the dams, we wouldn’t have seen such huge losses,” Bajwa remarked. He questioned the real outcomes of past special sessions called by Mann and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi allocated just Rs 1,600 crore to Punjab—barely 8% of what’s needed.
The floods have hit Punjab hard, with a report from September 15 showing 198,525 hectares of crops damaged statewide. The worst-affected areas include Gurdaspur (40,169 hectares), Fazilka (25,182 hectares), Kapurthala (17,574 hectares), Patiala (17,690 hectares), Ferozepur (17,257 hectares), and Tarn Taran (12,828 hectares). As relief efforts continue, Punjab leaders are under pressure to deliver real help for flood-affected families and farmers.
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