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PM Modi calls Punjab CM to check about flood situation, promises help amid charges of ‘ignoring’ state
In Punjab, at least two dozen deaths have been reported as floods have hit more than 1,000 villages across around 10 district
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann to discuss the rain and flooding in the state on Monday, immediately upon landing in New Delhi after his China visit, government sources said.
He assured Mann of all help and support, they added.
Mann on Monday visited some of the affected areas in Hoshiarpur district, where he said that he had already written to Prime Minister Modi to release ₹60,000 crore of "state funds stuck with the government of India”.
Further details of Modi's call later to Mann were not immediately available.
At least 29 deaths were reported till Monday in Punjab, as floods have hit more than 1,000 of its villages in over 10 districts. This has impacted over 2.5 lakh people.
Mann has asserted the his AAP government will compensate the people for the “loss of every single penny”. His finance minister, Harpal Singh Cheema, earlier on Monday alleged that the Centre is "completely ignoring" the devastation, and stressed that PM Narendra Modi had “not uttered a single word” about it.
Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan plans to soon visit Punjab to assess the crop damage, his office said on Monday. According to an official statement, the minister held a meeting to review the rainfall situation in various states and held detailed discussions with officials regarding the floods in Punjab and their impact on crops.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, meanwhile, also urged the Centre and the Punjab government to provide assistance to the victims of floods and arrange for compensation. She asked the cadres of her party, which is in Opposition in the state and at the Centre, to also help the affected people.
The state government has extended the closure of schools till September 3. Officials said Punjab received 253.7 mm of rain in August, 74 per cent in excess of normal and the state's highest in 25 years — sparking fears of a repeat of the 1988 disaster in northern India that claimed at least 600 lives in Punjab alone.
