Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 3: Two opposition BJP MLAs on Tuesday walked out of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly over the issue of allocation of funds for flood relief works, alleging discrimination against the Jammu region. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary denied the charges levelled by BJP MLAs Rajiv Jasrotia and Pawan Gupta, and also exchanged heated words with them leading to an uproar in the House.
Responding to the question of Jasrotia about details of funds released by the Centre for flood restoration works and district-wise distribution and utilisation, the minister said no funds till date have been released by the Centre for flood restoration works during the current financial year 2025-26.
“Further, an amount of Rs 289.39 crore was released during the current financial year 2025-26, under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Besides, an amount of Rs 100 crore (Rs 5.00 crore for each district) has been released under the UT Capex Budget (2025-26) of DMRRR under the activity ‘Flood Relief Measures’ to undertake urgent flood restoration works,” the deputy chief minister said.
He said the Jal Shaki Department has received funds for ongoing flood management projects under Flood Management and Border Area Programme (FMBAP) during the current financial year.
“The released funds are mainly for Flood Management Work, amounting to Rs 164.35 lakhs and for Comprehenslve Flood Management of River Jhelum, Phase-II amounting to Rs 6041.25 lakhs,” he said Besides this, based on the report of inter-ministerial central team (IMCT), the GoI under SASCI (Scheme for Special Assastance to States for Capital Investment) has allocated Rs 1431 cr for J-K. This will be further released to implementlng departments once the detailed proposals for flood restoration works are received from the departments,” Choudhary said.
Not satisfied with the response, Jasrotia and his party MLAs said the home ministry had already given Rs 212 crore to J-K as immediate relief and accused deputy chief minister of misleading the House.
Choudhary shot back at the BJP legislators and asked them to stop misleading people of Jammu on the pretext of discrimination with the region.
“We love central government as you do…But we say, whether the flood comes to Kashmir or Jammu, whether the damage is in Jammu or Kashmir, they are equally painful for us, but this is not the case with the BJP because their conscious is not clear. We have pain for both regions which is evident when our government restored Darbar move to provide relief to the local traders. This shows we do not discriminate,” he said. Continuing his tirade against the BJP, Choudhary said they are now demanding National Law University for Jammu after ensuring closure of Mata Vaishno Devi Medical college.
“They distributed sweets after putting the future of our children in danger. What answer do they have as to why the medical college was closed?” he said.
He said when the government receives the money from the Centre, it will be distributed equally.
Talking to news agency in assembly premises later, Jasrotia said he raised a question in the House but the government instead of giving a direct answer tried to “mislead” the House.
“I am asking one thing, the minister is replying to something entirely different. This has always been the technique of this government – to deviate and start an entirely different debate,” the BJP leader said.
He said the floods and landslides in August-September last year caused major damage in Jammu, including loss of life, but the funds that came for flood relief were given only to Kashmir and not to Jammu.
“Funds should have been released to worst hit Jammu but instead, the government gave Rs 62 crore to Kashmir. This is clear discrimination,” he said.
Gupta said he walked out in support of his party colleague as “we are not satisfied with the government response”.
“He (Deputy CM) is clearly a person who discriminates against Jammu and has a consistent habit of ignoring the people of Jammu. My Udhampur constituency was the worst hit by floods but got nothing. The discrimination will not be tolerated,” he added. |
