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In fire-season, Congress, BJP stock up on relief material in race to reach the affected

Besides keeping stocks of “relief packets” to be distributed soon after any such incident, the two political parties have also started peddling claims of who has helped the villagers most, and how soon.

BJP, Congress, emergency assembly session, MHA notification, AAP, Arvind-Jung, delhi news, city news, local news, Indian Express Both Congress and BJP have their respective claims on number of affected families they have helped.

Amethi has found saviours in BJP and Congress leaders who have entered into a race to help villagers affected by the incidents of fire, which becomes frequent every year with the arrival of summer seasons.

Besides keeping stocks of “relief packets” to be distributed soon after any such incident, the two political parties have also started peddling claims of who has helped the villagers most, and how soon.

It all started when several hutments were gutted in the fire that broke out in villages of Tiloi and Gauriganj Assembly segment on Thursday last week.

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Both parties have their respective claims on number of affected families they have helped.

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BJP district vice-president Govind Singh said within a week of the incident, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani made arrangements for relief material, which her public relation officer, Vijay Gupta, distributed among “17 families who suffered loss”. Gupta said he distributed packets to seven families each in Tedvahi and Kalekha Sujanpur villages, two in Bastidehi, and one in Khara.

Festive offer

Each affected family, Singh said, was given 25 kgs of rice, 20 kgs of wheat flour, 10 kgs of pulses, 2 kgs of sugar, 5 kgs of mustard oil, four steel plates and glasses, one steel bucket, a bedsheet and a saree, match boxes, and packets of biscuits and snacks.

“Congress men have not given any help to the affected families so far,” the leader claimed, and went on to emphasise that the BJP provided relief packet to a Dalit family in Khara village “within three hours of the incident (taking place)”.

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Singh added that the party will now keep at its office packets of relief material ready so that they can be immediately provided to the affected families.

While his party may have adopted similar measures, Congress’ district president Yogendra Mishra termed the BJP’s help to affected families as “a show-off”. “More than 150 minor incidents of fire have occurred in Amethi in the past few days and Congress has provided help to all the affected families, unlike BJP, which gave help to only 17 families. Moreover, their help reached to the victims a week after the incident while Congress provided help the very next day,” Mishra said.

Congress’ aid material, the leader said, consists of buckets, utensils, carpet, saree, grains and other essential items, with each packet costing around Rs 1,200. “Incidents of fire in villages occur during summer seasons every year. So we keep packets of such relief material ready at the party’s office and distribute it among the affected families soon after the incident,” he said.

Mishra recalled the Congress had created a “fund” in Amethi in 1994 to help such victims but its regular use began only in 1999 — “when party’s president Sonia Gandhiji won the Lok Sabha election from Amethi.”

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“When fire broke out in Baraulia village in June last year, Smriti Irani sent the relief materials 15 days later. (Congress vice-president) Rahul Gandhiji himself visited the village the next day and distributed aid among the families,” Mishra further recounts.

Amethi District Magistrate Jagat Raj said the political parties do not inform the administration before distributing relief materials. The administration, he said, will provide separate aid to the affected families after conducting a survey as is the norm.

While Amethi may not see measures to provide it with relief from the incidents of fire, it definitely has the two parties looking out for the villagers who stand affected.

First uploaded on: 04-06-2015 at 00:02 IST
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