Punjab Congress leaders meet governor
Chandigarh : A Punjab Congress delegation on Thursday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit urging him to press the Centre to release Rs 10,000 crore to compensate the losses suffered by the state due to heavy rains and subsequent flooding.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, former speaker Rana K P Singh and former MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli were part of the delegation.
Warring said the Congress delegation apprised the governor of the extensive damage caused by the flooding in many areas of the state and requested him to use his good office to press for the release of central assistance of Rs 10,000 crore to help Punjab recover, and compensate and rehabilitate its people.
Warring said the Congress has already asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to hold an emergency session of the state assembly to re-prioritise the budgetary expenditure for the rest of the year in the wake of the flooding.
Several districts of Punjab and Haryana were recently battered by heavy rains, leading to flooding of residential areas and vast tracts of agricultural land.
The Chandigarh administration had recently received a detailed proposal from the Haryana government on land swap for setting up the assembly building.
LoP Bajwa accused the Centre of deliberately making attempts to undermine Punjab’s claim over Chandigarh.
In the 2023-24 budget, the Haryana government had proposed allocation of Rs 50 crore for the construction of an additional Vidhan Sabha building here.
Haryana’s move to seek land in Chandigarh for constructing the building had evoked a sharp reaction from various political parties in Punjab, which had said that they would never allow it to happen as Chandigarh belongs to Punjab only.
