Central team in Mohali to assess flood damage

While on Tuesday, the central team will visit villages along the Ghaggar in Mohali, Patiala, and Sangrur, on Wednesday, the team will visit villages in Ropar and Jalandhar along the Sutlej.

An inter-ministerial central team visited Mohali on Tuesday to assess the damage caused by a breach in Ghaggar river last month.

The inter-ministerial central team taking a tour of areas along the Ghaggar in Mohali on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

The seven-member team visited Dehar, Alamgir, Tiwana, Khajur Mandi, and Sarsini in the Dera Bassi sub-division.

While on Tuesday, it will visit villages along the Ghaggar in Mohali, Patiala, and Sangrur, on Wednesday, the team will visit villages in Ropar and Jalandhar along the Sutlej.

The Punjab government had sought the Centre’s intervention to allow the use of disaster relief funds to compensate farmers whose transplanted paddy saplings were destroyed in the flash floods last month.

The central team gathered details of the damage from local officials and also addressed the grievances of farmers.

During the interaction, farmers’ representatives shared details of the damage to recently sown crops and the deaths of livestock. They also provided suggestions to the team on how the lives of small and marginalised farmers could be brought back on track.

“Floods have deposited a two-ft layer of sand and silt over the agricultural land, rendering it completely uncultivable. Earthmover operators are charging ₹1 lakh per acre to clear the sand and silt in order to make the land suitable for the Rabi crop season,” said Jassa Singh of Tiwana village.

Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from Khajur Mandi, said, “We are burdened with heavy debt. Many farmers like me had borrowed money to sow the rice crop, but the floods damaged the entire crop. We are left with no money and are not in a position to pay the contractor to clean the silt from our agricultural land.”

Krishna Kumar, principal secretary of the water resources department of Punjab, explained the widespread damage due to floods in the state’s rivers, while deputy commissioner Aashika Jain provided detailed information about the destruction caused by the Ghaggar in the district.

An official accompanying the team stated that the central government is authorised to release 75% of the funds for disaster relief, while the remaining amount is provided by the state government.

According to the state government’s estimates, crops on 2.59 lakh acres were destroyed in the floods.