India News | Opposition BJP & Cong Demand White Paper on Floods and Damages

Bhubaneswar, Sep 8 (PTI) Opposition BJP and Congress on Thursday asked the Odisha government to publish a white paper on the last month's twin floods and the damage caused due to the calamity.

The opposition parties demand came a day after Odisha government released the damage assessment report where it is said that chief minister has sanctioned Rs 128 crore for assistance to be given to the people losing their houses, cultivation and other livelihood means due to the calamity.

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While terming the state government's announcement of over Rs 128 crore assistance to the flood affected people as "misleading and false", BJP state general secretary Lekhashree Samantasinghar demanded that a ‘white paper' detailing the exact damage along with a list of people hit by the deluge be published.

"We doubt that the Rs 128 crore is meant to be distributed among the BJD supporters and not the real affected people. The government must publish details about information on the basis of which assistance has been announced, she said.

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The BJP leader also demanded that the state government should tell people about details of visits of officials to flood-affected areas as well as the time and place of such visits for assessment of the damage caused by heavy rains and floods.

She "blamed" the BJD government for the twin floods in river Mahanadi and Subarnarekha in August. These floods could have been "easily avoided had the government been serious", she said.

Claiming that standing crops on vast areas were destroyed in the floods, the BJP leader accused the state government of having "failed" to provide houses to the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Non-availability of pucca houses have caused death of people in wall collapses, she alleged.

Jatani MLA and Congress leader Suresh Routrray said that many people have not been provided with minimum relief. He also alleged that damage assessment have not been proper and therefore a re-survey should be done and a white paper be published on the calamity.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)