CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Assembly on Monday passed a resolution accusing the Centre of not responding adequately to the state’s flood crisis and demanded a special financial package of Rs 20,000 crore for compensation and rehabilitation.
The resolution said Punjab had been ravaged by catastrophic floods, “widely regarded as the worst and most destructive deluge since the 1988 floods,” affecting over 20 lakh people, destroying crops on nearly five lakh acres, causing heavy livestock losses, and damaging both private and public property.
It also criticised the Prime Minister’s Office for not responding to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s repeated requests for a meeting, thereby “insulting the people of the state and preventing the state from making a proper and comprehensive representation of the full scale of the disaster.” The resolution demanded the immediate transfer of the Rs 1,600-crore relief announced by the Prime Minister during his visit. Mann, however, said he has been given time to meet Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.
Mann announced compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre for 75–100% crop loss, Rs 10,000 per acre for 26–75% damage, and Rs 1.20 lakh for fully damaged houses. Farmers will receive Rs 7,200 per acre for removing sand deposited by floods and Rs 47,500 per hectare for land that was washed away. A special girdawari is underway, and compensation will start reaching families before Diwali.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa cited letters from the Water Resources Department showing that critical flood mitigation works in districts including Anandpur Sahib, Ropar, SAS Nagar, Patiala, Pathankot, and Ferozepur had not begun. Bajwa said, “If everything was completed by July 14, why did urgent instructions go out two weeks later?”