CHANDIGARH: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the Modi government stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Punjab and is committed to providing all possible help to the flood-affected.
The assurance came as Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann met Shah in Delhi and informed him that the Rs 1,600-crore flood relief the Centre announced was “minuscule in the wake of grave loss suffered by the state”. He requested an upward revision in the norms for awarding compensation to flood victims under the SDRF and NDRF.
The chief minister estimated preliminary losses at `13,832 crore, with more than 20 lakh people across 2,614 villages affected and 4.8 lakh acres of crops destroyed. He detailed the scale of the disaster, stating that 6.87 lakh people were displaced, over 17,000 houses were damaged, more than 2.5 lakh livestock were affected, and significant damage occurred to 4,657 km of rural roads, 485 bridges, 1,417 culverts, and 190 mandis.
Mann criticised the current SDRF/NDRF norms as inadequate. “Input subsidy where crop loss is 33 per cent and above has been fixed as Rs 6,800 per acre by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Paying such a petty amount would be unfair to farmers, as the crops were almost at the harvesting stage. Rs 50,000 per acre should be paid,” he said. The state government has already enhanced compensation from its own budget. Compensation for 26–33% crop loss has been increased to Rs 10,000 per acre from `2,000, for 33–75% loss to Rs 10,000 from Rs 6,800, and for 75–100% loss to `20,000 per acre, with Punjab contributing Rs 14,900—the highest in the country. Mann requested relaxation of paddy procurement specifications for Kharif Marketing Season 2025-26, particularly in the most affected districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Fazilka, Kapurthala, and Ferozepur.
He raised the issue of the international border, urging the Centre to explore the possibility of shifting the border security fence towards the International Border wherever possible, without compromising national security. Mann noted that in some areas, the fence is far from the zero line, forcing farmers to cross it daily, which creates difficulties.