Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over waterlogged roads in Varanasi and said the rain had exposed its claims about development.
Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reported waterlogging at several places following incessant rain during the last 48 hours. Clips of the submerged roads have been widely circulated on social media.
In a statement issued by the party, Yadav said Modi had promised to turn his parliamentary constituency into Kyoto (Japan). But this remained a dream as Varanasi, with its submerged roads, has been transformed into Venice (Italy), which is surrounded by water.
Yadav claimed not a single smart city has come up under BJP rule and alleged that the state government has been cheating people in its name.
Sewer water is flowing on the roads. There is waterlogging at many places in Kashi (Varanasi). Potholed roads are causing accidents. Stray animals are roaming free. Many lives have been lost due to bull attacks, he said in the statement.
In an apparent reference to Modi, Yadav said those who claimed "Maa Ganga ne bulaya hai (Mother Ganga has called me)" have turned the Ganga into a drain under the Namami Gange programme.
He also accused the BJP government of scamming people in the name of cleaning the Ganga and claimed that devotees are forced to bathe and perform 'jalabhishek' in dirty water.
The Samajwadi Party chief further alleged that the people of Varanasi are troubled by power outages.
Transformers are blowing up due to a lack of maintenance. Electricity charges have gone up under BJP rule but power is not available. Industries are also coming to a standstill, Yadav said in the statement.
Not a single power house has come up under the BJP government. The system of electricity generation developed under the Samajwadi Party government has been ruined due to a lack of maintenance, he alleged.
On Friday, Varanasi Municipal Corporation Public Relations Officer Sandeep Srivastava said teams have been formed for each zone under the supervision of an additional municipal commissioner to deal with rain-related situations. The teams include officials from the water supply, health and general engineering departments.
There is waterlogging at some places due to the incessant rain. The big drains have already been cleaned and arrangements are being made to remove the silt, he said.
Srivastava said there has been no waterlogging this year in the city's Gurubagh, Ravindrapuri and Ravidasghat areas that used to face the brunt of the problem. Waterlogging is mostly limited to those places where construction work is underway.
-With PTI Input
