Vikramaditya Singh, lashed back at Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh and Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, lashed back at Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on his statement about the absence of Secretary PWD during Gadkari’s visit to assess flood-hit areas of Kullu district. The Ministers said that Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh and  Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Sunder Singh Thakur accompanied the Union Minster, Nitin Gadkari’s throughout his visit to Kullu. He said that the Chief Minister gave detailed information about the damage caused due to heavy rains and floods in the district as well as in the other parts of the state.

The duo said that the Chief Minister had already visited Kullu district to monitor the relief and rescue operations during the floods for about 60 hours to help the affected and evacuate the stranded people and the Chief Minister was well aware of all the facts and damage caused in district Kullu.

When the rains were wreaking havoc in the state, the Chief Minister stood in the mid of the disaster busy maneuvering the rescue operations. Even during that time, the Leader of the Opposition kept issuing and making statements to remain in the news and targeting the government without much attention to the disaster. They said that it was at the request of the State Government that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had come to Himachal Pradesh to visit the flood-affected areas so that he could personally assess the damage caused.

Both the ministers said that Jai Ram Thakur was trying to mislead the people of the state by doing selfish politics on this sensitive issue, which cannot be justified. They said that an amount of Rs 400 crore was being given by the Central Government under CRIF for the repair of roads, while no separate amount has been released. The Leader of the Opposition should refrain from lying to the people.

On the matter of appointment of senior IAS officer Ram Subhag Singh (Retd), as principal advisor for a period of one year, the ministers said that he has already got a clean chit from the PMO and now there was no such allegation against him. They advised Jai Ram Thakur to ascertain the facts before speaking out. The Ministers advised the Leader of the Opposition to shun political statements over the disaster caused and stand with the state government to provide maximum help to the affected families.