After taking charge, new Gurdaspur DC orders authorities to expedite relief work

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Himanshu Agarwal has given strict instructions to various departments to expedite the ongoing relief and rehabilitation works in the flood-affected areas.

Jalandhar DC Himanshu Aggarwal has been given the additional charge of the Gurdaspur DC in place of Dalwinderjit Singh who is indisposed and has proceeded on leave.

He has asked the heads of different departments to submit their reports within 48 hours on the damage caused to the infrastructure.

Officials of the Agriculture and Revenue Department have been asked to file their ‘estimate reports’ of the damage to crops.

Yesterday, immediately after joining, Himanshu Aggarwal held a meeting with senior officials in the District Administrative Complex (DAC) and asked them of the work they had done till yet.

He also instructed officials of the PWD and the Punjab Mandi Board to expedite the process of repairing the damaged road infrastructure, particularly village link roads.

After receiving reports that people were not getting relief on time, he asked the officials to ensure that no needy person should be deprived of help.

He instructed officials of the Health Department to increase the number of medical camps being held in flood-affected areas.

“Teams of the Health Department should go door to door to make people aware of how to prevent vector-borne diseases. Teams from the Local Bodies and Panchayat Departments should continuously fog the affected villages so that mosquitoes and flies do not breed due to flood water. He asked the officials of the Animal Husbandry Department to arrange fodder on a priority basis.

The DC said crops were still submerged in water in many villages. He instructed the officials of the Agriculture and Revenue Departments to prepare a comprehensive report on the damage once the water recedes so that the government can provide compensation to the farmers. He also asked XEN (Drains) to prepare a report on the damage to the river embankments and to immediately start the work of plugging the breaches.