Finally, details of flood damage sent to Centre

Ten days after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking financial assistance for the flood-ravaged state, the Punjab Government has finally sent a memorandum listing the losses suffered by the state during the recent floods.

The government had failed to prepare the memorandum during earlier meetings.

Sources told The Tribune that the memorandum was submitted to the Centre through an email on Friday. The estimates submitted by various departments had finally matched the estimates submitted to the inter-ministerial central team during its visit last month.

The memorandum put the total loss at Rs 13,832 crore, they added. Mann met mediapersons after AAP official candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll Rajinder Gupta filed his nomination papers. He also confirmed that the memorandum had been submitted.

“The ball is in the Centre’s court now, which should show magnanimity and release funds for the state. The report of special girdawari has come and we will now start giving compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre to the farmers whose crops suffered a damage of over 33 per cent during the floods,” the Chief Minister said.

Mann flayed the Opposition parties for accusing his government of not doing enough to strengthen river embankments and continuing with their tirade that floods were man-made in Punjab. “It was a natural disaster, similar to that in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” he said.