JAIPUR: The Rajasthan unit of the Congress on Monday accused the State Government of having failed to extend timely and adequate relief to the flood-affected people in the State while pointing out that at least 37 villages in Sanchore tehsil of Jalore district were still submerged with the victims waiting for help.

PCC president B. D. Kalla, back from his fourth visit to the flood-affected areas in western Rajasthan, told reporters here that no Government authority had reached these villages and the people, desperately waiting for basic necessities such as potable water, were facing the threat of malaria and water-borne diseases. "The District Congress Committee has supplied relief material to these villages."

Mr. Kalla, holding Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje directly responsible for inept handling of the flood situation, said Ms. Raje was "untraceable'' even when the villages in Barmer district were inundated. "Where was the Chief Minister between August 21 and 24 when people were dying in Barmer? Doesn't it show her incompetence and total lack of concern for the people?''

"The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, instead of indulging in murky politics over the visit of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Barmer, should concentrate on utilising the Centrally allocated Rs. 1,050 crores for extending relief to the affected people,'' said Mr. Kalla. He claimed that the State Government had not spent a single paisa from its coffers on the relief fund.

Mr. Kalla said people in the worst flood-affected areas in Barmer were still living in the open like "refugees in their own homeland'' in the absence of adequate tents and temporary shelters. "Ms. Raje did not go to the actual flood-affected spots such as Gala Ki Basti in Jaisalmer even after two visits there,'' he charged.

The PCC chief pointed out that even as the villagers had claimed that 250 to 300 people were still missing in Barmer and Jaisalmer districts, the ruling BJP was giving a political twist to the relief issue to hide its "failure and incompetence''. He said the reports of corruption in ex-gratia distribution were rampant.

Mr. Kalla expressed the hope that the Centre would sanction more assistance to the State after the Central study team, which visited the flood-affected areas recently, submits its report. He said the Congress party had worked like an NGO in the affected villages to provide blankets, clothes, utensils, medicines, tents and cots to those rendered homeless.

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