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₹1,600 cr token sum for immediate relief, more coming: Punjab governor
On way back from Pathankot, Gulab Chand Kataria conducts aerial survey of flood-hit districts, meets chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Mohali hospital.
Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Wednesday said the ₹1,600-crore assistance announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the flood-hit state is a token amount for immediate relief works and asserted that more assistance would be given.
After PM Modi announced the financial aid on Tuesday, ministers of the AAP government in Punjab lashed out at the Centre terming it a cruel joke and an insult for a state staring at losses exceeding ₹20,000 crore.
Kataria said: “After assessment, what maximum help can be given to the farmers and people whose houses have been damaged, farmers who lost their animals in floods and suffered other damage, will be given.”
Replying to a query if more central assistance could come for flood-hit Punjab, the governor said: “100% it will come. This is only a token (amount). This is for immediate (relief) works being done, it is like a token for that. More will be given once assessments (of damage caused by the floods) are completed.”
The governor was interacting with reporters after he met Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who is admitted at Fortis Hospital in Mohali, and enquired about his health.
Kataria, who flew back to Chandigarh from Pathankot on Wednesday morning, said, “I conducted an aerial survey of the flood situation. Though the water level has started receding, the extent of damage to houses and crops is enormous.”
Besides the ₹1,600-crore aid, the Prime Minister, who conducted an aerial survey of the devastation caused by the worst deluge in the state since 1988, also announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and ₹50,000 to the seriously injured.
The assistance for the border state was in addition to the ₹12,000 crore already in the state’s kitty.
Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema termed the ₹1,600-crore aid a cruel joke, while his cabinet colleague and AAP state president Aman Arora said the amount was paltry and insulting.
State revenue minister, Hardeep Singh Mundian, said the amount announced was insufficient for Punjab. The minister said during the official meeting with the PM in Gurdaspur, he told Modi that the amount was meagre for the state.
On Tuesday, PM Modi chaired a meeting in Gurdaspur with officials and elected representatives in the district and also reviewed the relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken and assessed the damage the flood caused in the border state.
Gurdaspur is one of the worst-affected districts in the state.
He also met flood-affected families and assured them that the Government of India will make all efforts to work shoulder to shoulder with the state to provide succour to the flood-hit people.
Governor Kataria said, “The Prime Minister also asked about chief minister Mann’s health and said when I (governor) meet the CM, I should give an update to the PM about his health.” Kataria told reporters that there is improvement in Mann’s health.
According to the hospital authorities, Mann’s parameters remain stable and he has resumed official work from the hospital. The governor said that Mann enquired about Tuesday’s meeting in Gurdaspur. “ I told him that it was positive in every aspect,” Kataria said.
Mann was not part of the Gurdaspur meeting as he was indisposed. He was hospitalised last week after he complained of exhaustion and low heart rate.
“A central team also visited Punjab recently. Based on their assessment and other assessments at state level, reports are being prepared,” Kataria said, adding while the state faced nature’s fury, five to six districts were worst affected.
Besides governor Kataria and revenue minister Mundian, the Gurdaspur meeting was attended by state agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian and Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu among others.
Punjab is currently facing one of its worst flood disasters in decades. The death toll stands at 52, while crops on 1.91 lakh hectares have been damaged.
