Shimla: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday visited disaster-hit Samej village in Shimla district and accused the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh of doing "nothing" to help the victims.
Himachal Pradesh has been lashed by heavy rains for almost a week. The death toll due to flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh on the night of July 31 increased to 16 on Tuesday with the recovery of two more bodies. Forty people are still missing.
After interacting with the victims of last week's flash floods at Samej in Rampur subdivision, Ranaut said, "It is a heart-wrenching tragedy. People have lost all their family members, including children. They are in trauma." "I would request the state government to provide immediate relief (financial assistance) to the affected families," the MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi said.
She accused the state's Congress government of doing "nothing" to help the affected people in Samej village, where over 30 people are missing.
"I cannot see anything being done by the state government... this is inhuman," Ranaut alleged.
The actor-politician also demanded a special inquiry into the allocation of funds by the state's Congress government to the families affected by last year's flood.
"Malana in Kullu district has been disconnected and the villagers are themselves making the bridge," she said.
Samej village, about 148 km from here, has been the worst hit by the flash floods. Rampur, Kullu and Mandi are under the Mandi parliamentary constituency from where Ranaut has been elected to the Lok Sabha.
"I have come here as a representative of the Union government. The Central government will provide funds to help the flood-affected people. We all know financial assistance was provided after last year's monsoon disaster. These funds go to the state government and are distributed by them. No one knows what happened to those funds," she said.
Ranaut claimed that the people affected by last year's monsoon disaster are still waiting for Rs 7 lakh promised by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
"The Union finance minister, during her recent budget speech, assured assistance to Himachal Pradesh. But the funds would come through the 'ditch' ("khada") dug by CM Sukhu. Only God knows whether or not the money will be distributed among the affected families," the BJP MP said.
She said Himachal Pradesh has been facing disasters ever since the Congress came to power in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided a Rs 1,800-crore package to Himachal Pradesh after last year's disaster, Ranaut added.
Shakuntala, a resident of Samej village who lost her mother in the flash floods said that "everybody has assured us help and rescue efforts are underway but many bodies are yet to be recovered".
Another local, Chinta Devi who lost her daughter-in-law in the disaster, is in a fix about how to trace her kin's body. "Everyone is searching but bodies have not been found," she said.
Mohan Lal Kaptiya, the head of Sarpara panchayat under which Samej village falls, told the PTI Videos that help reached within hours.
"Our revenue minister visited the village the same day (of the disaster) and the chief minister came here the next day. But Ranaut is coming here after five days," he said.
According to officials, 410 rescuers from the Army, NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, CISF, Himachal Pradesh Police and home guards are involved in the search operation, which has been intensified with additional machinery, sniffer dog squads, drones and other equipment.
The hill state has suffered a loss of Rs 748 crore due to monsoon fury between June 2 and August 7. Ninety-three people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents, according to the state emergency operation centre.