New Delhi: Charging the NDA Government at the Centre with turning a blind eye to the tragedy caused by floods in several areas of the country, the Congress today demanded that the Centre take immediate steps for the relief and rehabilitation of people hit by the deluge. Addressing reporters here, senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, ‘The flood situation in the country is alarming with the estimated death toll across states swelling to 300 and the number of people marooned being estimated at nearly one crore nationally.
Yet the BJP Government at the Centre has made only perfunctory voices, conducting aerial surveys and providing little relief. The Congress party demands that the Central Government immediately launch efforts to come to the aid of flood ravaged people.’ Charging the BJP with turning a blind eye to the tragedy in flood-hit areas, Mr Azad said, ‘There is an alarming situation in various states of the country due to the floods. However, the Central Government has failed in providing proper relief and rehabilitation to flood affected people and states.’ Refuting the charge by the BJP that Congress MLAs from Gujarat were not active in efforts for relief in flood hit areas in Gujarat, Mr Azad said, ‘An atmosphere is being created across the country against the MLAs so that they can come back and from the airport, ‘they can be stolen’.
‘The Congress is very active and visible in Gujarat.’ Charging the Union Ministers with being oblivious to the tragedy in flood-hit areas, he said, ‘Union Minister Smriti Irani failed to visit flood hit areas in Gujarat when she visited the state to file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha.’
