Chandigarh, Aug 7 (PTI) Punjab Congress on Monday held a protest to demand financial aid for the state's flood victims.

The protest was held outside the deputy commissioner's office in Mansa, said a party statement here.

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Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring lambasted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its alleged incompetence and mismanagement of the flood issue.

Warring said during the Congress regime, the party allocated funds worth hundreds of crores of rupees for the management, cleaning and repair of drainage systems and canals before the monsoon season to reduce the impact of incessant downpours.

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As against this, the present AAP government was "hell-bent on wasting the funds for self-promotion and other PR activities".

Expressing disappointment with the way the AAP government "mishandled" the floods that wreaked havoc in the state, claiming over 40 lives and causing huge loss to property and crops, Warring said, "I travelled extensively in the state and interacted with the victims in the worst flood-hit areas".

"All the victims had one common complaint, that the government, they had voted for in the name of 'badlaav', turned a blind eye towards their problems and left them on their own during the crisis," he added.

Warring also mentioned that the Congress leadership wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, submitted memorandums to the Governor of Punjab and urged the Punjab CM to announce financial aid for flood victims at the earliest.

"But all that the state received was a petty compensation of Rs 218 crore from the Centre which is nothing as compared to the loss suffered. We had repeatedly requested the administration and the government to allocate financial assistance to the victims, but all our efforts went in vain," Warring said.

Warring said Congress will stage protests to demand compensation for the victims and will intensify it further if demands are not met.

Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said the Congress has always stood with people during a crisis.

Bajwa said the party demanded Rs 50,000 per acre compensation for the farmers for crop damage, financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each for those whose houses have got damaged, ex gratia of 5 lakhs for the injured and Rs 10 lakhs to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones.

"We have also demanded financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the shopkeepers who have suffered colossal losses, Rs 50,000 for the owners, whose milch cattle have died in the natural calamity. We will keep raising our voice for our people and their rights and we will keep pressing the government to announce the compensation," said Bajwa.

Addressing the gathering, Congress MLA from Kapurthala, Rana Gurjit Singh also took on the Mann government over the flood issue.

He said that it was a man-made disaster.

"The ignorant and incompetent AAP leadership deliberately overlooked the catastrophe that was coming! Had they held meetings in January or February with the administration, Deputy Commissioners and officials concerned to access the preparedness before the monsoon, and spent money on the management and repair of canals and drainage system, the impact could have been reduced and precious lives could have been saved," he said.

(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)