Senior party leaders C D Patel and Amarsinh Chaudhary who visited the city on Sunday, said on Tuesday that criminal negligence on the part of the government in handling Surat floods was evident from it allowing a Class IV employee to handle the Ukai dam in the absence of senior engineers responsible for monitoring the dam.

They have also demanded resignation of Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel for failing to take timely steps to prevent the avoidable man-made calamity. They alleged that they were receiving complaints from the people that government officials were indulging in corruption in distribution of financial aid. According to them, the Surat district development officer was not available in his office ever since floods hit Surat city and surrounding areas.

Patel and Chauhdary have stated that Central and State government ministers were interfering in administrative work and creating confusion among officials in Surat despite being ignorant about the process and procedures of rehabilitation. Condemning hounding of BJP leaders in Surat, the Congress leaders said this was a product of BJP culture and BJP leaders should thank themselves for that.

Meanwhile, the GPCC has despatched 25,000 food packets for Surat flood victims. The AICC and the Gujarat Relief Committee contributed Rs 5 lakh each. Each food packet contain three kgs wheat, one kg of rice and sugar, half a kg dal and 100 gm of tea.