Chandigarh: Three Punjab ministers have drawn flak after a video surfaced online in which they were talking about trips to Goa and Sweden while inspecting flood-affected areas in the state. The Congress has slammed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the incident.
Three ministers - Barinder Kumar Goyal, Laljit Bhullar, and Harbhajan Singh - were recorded when they were sitting on the boat wearing life jackets. In the video, one of the ministers could be hear talking about luxury crusie rides in Sweden, while another minister taking about his experience in Goa.
Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Pratap Singh Bajwa, hit out at the Bhagwant Mann-led government after the video surfaced.
"Flood-hit families in Punjab beg for a glass of drinking water, but AAP ministers found time to relive their ‘golden memories’ of luxury cruises in Sweden & Goa. What a relief tour!" Bajwa wrote in his X post.
The video surfaced at a time when several parts of Punjab are reeling under floods.
The flood situation in Punjab remained grim in eight districts of the state - Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, and Ferozepur. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the Indian Army are helping the local administration in rescue and relief operations.
Over 500 villages in the state are reportedly affected. Meanwhile, the water levels at Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams have crossed the maximum limit, while the water level in the Bhakhra dam is rising.
The Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas rivers are overflowing due to heavy rains in the catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. At least three people have reportedly lost their lives in the rain-related incident in the state so far. A large quantity of crops has also been destroyed in the floods.
