Union Minister of State for Sports Sarbananda Sonowal has accused the Congress-led Government in Assam for failing to utilise the Central fund meant for disaster relief even as the Union Minister accused that the State Government has failed to provide required relief to the recent flood-hit people in four districts of Assam that have so far killed 36 people and left over 1.4 lakh people homeless.
Sonowal on Friday visited the flood-hit Goalpara and Kamrup district of Assam and said that the State Government is yet to utilise a Central fund to the tune of Rs346 crore, which was released by the Central Government in the current fiscal.
The statement of the Union Minister assumes significance as the State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had on Thursday alleged that the BJP led NDA Government had not given much importance to the devastating floods in Assam and demanded a special package of Rs1,000 crore as the disaster relief.
“A Central fund of Rs346 crore has been lying unutilised with the Assam Government. The Chief Minister is demanding a package of Rs1,00 crore for the recent disaster. However, the State must utilise the pending amount which was given to the state for disaster relief,” said Sonowal.
He also accused the Chief Minister of indulging in politics over the issue of floods and said that it is time to concentrate on providing relief to the flood-hit people rather than to do politics over the issue.
“The Assam Chief Minister had not even informed the Central Government properly about the disaster caused by the recent floods. It is the responsibility of the State Government to inform the Centre, particularly the Ministry of Home Affairs about the disaster. We have come to know that it is only yesterday that the Assam Chief Minister informed the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the disaster,” Sonowal said.
“The Centre would give more than Rs1,000 crore if required to help the disaster hit people and rebuild the infrastructure damaged by the floods,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that the Assam Chief Minister had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday seeking a special package of Rs1,000 crore from the Central government to initiate the rehabilitation work on a war-footing in the recent flood hit districts of Assam.