No Central aid yet for Surat, only crocodile tears: Guj Govt

Ahmedabad, Sep 22 (UNI) Accusing the UPA Government ministers of coming to flood-hit Surat and only ''shedding crocodile tears'', the Gujarat Government today said no Central assistance has yet arrived for the affected people.

''They make flying visits to Surat on the pretext of meeting the flood affected people and just shed crocodile tears,'' state government spokesmen I K Jadeja and Saurabh Patel said in a statement.

They said Central Ministers Kumari Shelja, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Jaipal Reddy have come this week, but there has been no aid announcements from the the Centre. Taking exception to Mr Jaipal Reddy's contention that the Centre was ready to give aid but the Gujarat Government had not put forth any demand, they said the Surtis know that the State had already pegged the damage caused by floods at Rs 22171 crores and informed the Centre of it. ''Then how can they spread such insinuations?'' they asked.

''They must stop this farcical visits and spell out what help have they extended till date,'' Mr Jadeja, the Urban development Minister, and Mr Patel, the Energy Minister demanded.

They also said the state government has already submitted Rs 817 crore worth projects for clearance to the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission. ''But the Central government has only cleared Rs 250 crore worth projects, that too those had been submitted before the floods,'' they pointed out.

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