Asserting that flood was a natural calamity and was beyond human control, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that by proper management and timely relief, the losses could be minimised. He was addressing a gathering during the distribution of relief material in flood affected Ballia on Saturday.
Stressing how water released from Nepal has been playing havoc in eastern Uttar Pradesh for the last several years, Yogi said that now a plan has been chalked out and sent to the Centre so that it could be implemented at earliest. He said that once the plan was implemented, people could be provided relief from this calamity which has become a yearly feature.
Yogi attacked the Opposition parties alleging that each one of them has been busy doing politics of caste and religion in the last 15 years due to which development took a back seat.
“Parties which were busy in caste and regiligion politics in the last decade-and-a-half, are unable to digest the process of development and hence criticising the BJP government. I must tell you that my government is committed to safeguarding the interest of all sections of the society and work to fulfill the slogan of `Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’,” Yogi said.
Extending his sympathies towards flood victims, the CM said that no one should worry as his government was concerned about their well being.
“We have already decided to give Rs 4 lakh to every person who died due to the floods. Besides, we will give Rs 95,100 to those whose houses were destroyed in the floods,” said Yogi adding that directions have been given to prepare a list of victims who lost their houses so that the compensation could be provided at the earliest.
Distributing relief material to flood victims at a primary school in Singhvi of Bansdeeh Thesil (Ballia), Yogi said that the administration will facilitate all help to the victims and see to their rehabilitation. He also asked officials to review losses to agriculture produce due to floods so that the victims could be compensated.
Admitting that 25 districts of the state were affected by floods, the CM said that besides administration, the role of general public was also very important in fighting the floods and facilitate quick relief to the victims.
Yogi also highlighted that how the administration had pushed the services of flood units of Provincial Armed Constabulary, units of Natural Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF), besides alerting Army personnel. He informed that helicopters were pressed into services to forward quick relief to victims and those trapped in the floodd.
Reeferring to soil erosion caused by floods in the native village of lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narain, Yogi asked officials to ensure measures to prevent it and warned of stern action if timely action was not taken.
But Yogi had to face opposition at the function when during his speech, two student leaders breached the security cordon and waved black flags at him raising slogans against him and his government. later, the cops overpowered both students and snatched the flags before packing them off to a police station. Adityanath was referring to a recent murder of a young
girl when the protesters interjected and raised flags. SP of Ballia, Vijay Pal Singh said that the students were taken into custody and action would be taken as per law.
Meanwhile during aerial survey of flood-hit Azamgarh, Yogi also distributed compensation of cheques of Rs 4 lakh each to the family members of Dharma Devi in Basantpur and Ram Narain in Sunura. He also distributed relief material to 25 villagers.