Rahul Gandhi visits flood-hit areas in Punjab’s Amritsar
Rahul Gandhi visits flood-hit areas in Punjab’s Amritsar
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met flood-affected residents in Ghonewal village, Amritsar, as Punjab grapples with severe floods and damage.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in Amritsar on Monday and headed to Ghonewal village in Amritsar’s Ajnala to meet flood-affected residents and assess the damage. He was accompanied by Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla and other party leaders.
Ghonewal village was among several areas in Ajnala that were badly hit by floodwaters. Gandhi sat among some flood-affected people and interacted with them. After visiting Ghonewal village, he is scheduled to pay obeisance at the historic gurdwara Baba Budha Sahib in Ramdas area of Amritsar. The former Congress president is also scheduled to visit flood-hit areas of Gurdaspur district. Punjab faced one of its worst flood disasters in decades.
The floods were a result of swollen Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers along with seasonal rivulets caused by heavy rainfall in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, heavy rains in Punjab had also intensified the flooding situation. The death toll presently stands at 56 while crops on 1.98 lakh hectares were damaged.
On September 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed the flood situation and announced a financial assistance of ₹1,600 crore for the flood-hit state in addition to the ₹12,000 crore already in the State’s kitty.
