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Punjab pegs flood loss at ₹1,320 Cr, seeks relaxation in norms for compensation
Punjab chief secretary Anurag Verma pegged the loss due to floods at ₹1320.59 crore, including ₹605.38 crore to agriculture, ₹173.10 crore to PWD (Roads and Buildings), ₹159.36 crore to water resources, ₹44.38 crore to urban infrastructure, ₹43.66 crore to rural development and panchayats
Punjab chief secretary Anurag Verma has requested the inter-ministerial central team to give relaxation in the norms of assistance to the victims to compensate them for the damage caused by the floods, pegging the total loss at ₹1,320 crore.
In a meeting with the seven-member central team, Verma said that chief minister Bhagwant Mann has already written a letter to the Union home minister to seek a change in the norms, so that flood victims can be fully compensated. Punjab has demanded to increase in compensation amount for loss of life and property, the chief secretary told the central team before it concluded its three-day visit to the state. The central team was in Punjab to make a ground-level assessment of the damage caused by the floods in the state due to continuous heavy rains in the Punjab and hilly areas. During the meeting, the chief secretary submitted a detailed report to the central team.
Verma said that in the letter written by the chief minister, the central government has been urged to double the amount of compensation given to the victim’s family in case of loss of life from ₹4 lakh to ₹8 lakh. “The state government is standing by its people in their hour of crisis and has funds to provide compensation, but only because of the norms of the Union home ministry, it is unable to provide adequate compensation. Therefore, there is a need to change these norms,” according to an official release.
During the meeting, national disaster management authority (NDMA) financial adviser Ravinish Kumar, who headed the central team, said that his team visited many states and after Himachal Pradesh, Punjab suffered the most damage, according to the press release. Another team member Dr AV Suresh Babu, who was from ISRO, said that it is also clear from satellite images that heavy rain has caused a lot of damage in Punjab and many areas have come under heavy floods.
Giving details, the chief secretary pegged the loss due to floods at ₹1320.59 crore, including ₹605.38 crore to agriculture, ₹173.10 crore to PWD (Roads and Buildings), ₹159.36 crore to water resources, ₹44.38 crore to urban infrastructure, ₹43.66 crore to rural development and panchayats, ₹26.85 crore for school education, ₹17.50 crore to power infrastructure, ₹9.98 crore to fisheries, ₹5.66 crore for water supply and sanitation, ₹4.45 crore for health and ₹230.26 crore for miscellaneous. The chief secretary also wrote a letter to the Union home secretary and informed that nearly 1500 villages in 19 districts were affected due to floods in the state. The central team included director agriculture and farmers welfare BK Srivastava, under secretary rural development ministry Kailash Kumar, central water commission director Ashok Kumar, assistant director expenditure department of finance ministry Anjali Maurya. The meeting was also attended by special chief secretary revenue KAP Sinha, principal secretary water supply and sanitation DK Tiwari, principal secretary power Tejveer Singh, principal secretary health VP Singh, principal secretary water resources Krishan Kumar and principal secretary PWD Nilkanth S Avhad.
