Chandigarh, Sep 29 Punjab Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal, on Monday, told the Assembly that the Opposition indulged in politics during floods and misleading the House.
Speaking on the second day of discussion over the resolution "Rehabilitation of Punjab" during the special session of the Assembly, Goyal said leaders of the Opposition, who remained in power for decades, are now resorting to baseless allegations merely to score political points.
Referring to Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa's claim that seven lakh cusecs of water was released from the Ranjit Sagar Dam, the Water Resources Minister clarified the actual figure was only around 2.15 lakh cusecs.
Minister Goyal said that LoP Bajwa committed an offence by misleading the House with false claims and must apologise as well as resign from the Assembly membership.
The Minister added the Congress never cared for the interests of the people of Punjab and always remained busy playing political games.
He said that the LoP visited the Madhopur headworks nearly a month after its breach, yet did not speak a single word about the department employee who sacrificed his life while opening the gate or the 26 officials who remained trapped at the site and had to be airlifted.
He added that the Opposition leader Bajwa has been spreading lies about non-cleaning of the Sakki nullah in Gurdaspur, while in reality 20 panchayats of the area honoured him during Baba Gujjar Mela for ensuring its cleaning.
The Minister asserted that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab has witnessed a scale of drain-cleaning work never undertaken in the past 70 years.
He added that due to the state government's efforts, canal water has now reached the remotest tail-end villages.
Prior to 2022, only 21 per cent of the state's cultivable land was irrigated with canal water, whereas the Mann government has increased it to 64 per cent and set a target to achieve 76 per cent by March 31, 2026.
Farmers, the Minister said, have received canal water after 38 to 40 years bringing them immense relief.
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