Centre & AAP govt in State have both failed Punjabis – Sukhbir Badal

Bahadurjeet Singh/royalpatiala.in News/ Chamkaur Sahib, September 4,2025

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the centre as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the State had both failed Punjab, even as he saluted the indomitable spirit of Punjabis who had taken the entire flood relief operations into their own hands.

The SAD president, who rode a tractor on a bundh to reach Sarangpur Fasse and Daudarpur villages in this sub division besides Bela Chowk, interacted with farmers strengthening the bundh at critical points besides giving then financial and material aid.

Asserting that the “manmade” floods had ruined the livelihoods of lakhs of people, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “despite the fact that the State has been in the grip of floods since one fortnight, no financial aid has been released to conduct relief operations”. Saluting villagers with folded hands, the SAD President said “the humanity shown by you in coming to the aid of your brethren is making a difference. Slowly and steadily we are coming to grip with the situation. The bravery shown by you in putting ‘sewa’ before self and coming out to help the affected people has galvanised the entire relief operation and is turning the tide in our favour”.

Urging the people to remain in ‘Chardhi Kala’ amidst slogans of “Sukhbir Singh Badal Jindabad” , the SAD president said “the Akali cadre is doing to utmost to assist you in all flood relief works”. He said the SAD had also established a dedicated flood relief centre in Jalandhar where it was receiving aid from it’s cadre and distributing to all affected places.

Mr Badal also gave Rs 2 lakh cash to the village committee at Sarangpur Fasse. He also gave Rs 2 lakh in cash at Daudarpur for constructing gabions by using an iron mesh. He also handed over 1000 liters of diesel and assured another 5,000 liters of diesel would be supplied to the village soon. He also assured both villages that 500 Akali workers would assist village committees in strengthening their bundh.

At Bela Chowk, Mr Badal while assuring all help to the villagers to strengthen their bundh, said the fury of the floods had increased manifold this year because no flood protection works were undertaken. “Chief minister Bhagwant Mann presided over a meeting to review flood protection works on June 5. Following this there was no time to take any protection measures”. He said it was also unfortunate that the centre had not allocated any money for relief or rehabilitation of the flood affected till now. “Punjabis, who help people across States when in times of crisis, have been abandoned to face this tragic crisis on their own”.

Senior leaders who accompanied the SAD president included Paramjit Singh Dhillon, Paramjit Singh Lakhewal SGPC member, Ravinder Khera, Yadwinder Singh Yadu and Harjinder Singh Pwat.