In ‘first contact’, Modi dials Mann on floods

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening called up Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to take stock of the flood situation in Punjab, in what was the first communication by the Centre with the state that has been battling nature’s fury for a week.

Official sources said the first thing the PM did after landing in Delhi from China was to dial the Punjab CM. “Immediately after landing in Delhi, the PM called up CM Bhagwant Mann to discuss the situation arising out of the rain and flooding in Punjab. He assured the state of all help,” the sources said.

The PM is also likely to soon hold a meeting with the Centre’s inter-ministerial teams to review the situation in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

The phone call came a day after CM Mann wrote a letter to the PM seeking the release of the state’s pending dues of Rs 60,000 crore. No central minister or a top BJP leader has so far visited Punjab to take stock of the floods, which have claimed 29 lives and submerged over 1,000 villages.

A Punjab Government official said, “The state has asked the Centre through the CM to relax norms under the Disaster Management Act for the payment of relief. With floods being included as ‘disaster’ under the Act, there is no need for a separate declaration or a notification (as done by Himachal by declaring the entire state as ‘disaster-hit’).”

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced in New Delhi that the Centre was “addressing the devastating floods in Punjab”. He also assured the state of full support. “Punjab farmers affected by the floods should not worry as the Centre stands firmly by them in this hour of natural calamity,” Chouhan said.

The Punjab BJP leaders, however, didn’t appear amused by Chouhan’s statement. A few leaders said the BJP may already have “lost a big opportunity to connect with Punjab’s rural population”. “A statement by Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu seeking the release of ‘Bandi Sikhs’, regular visits by Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini to the state and offering jobs to the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims seemed to have set the BJP on the right path in Punjab. But the opportunity seems to have been lost now as nobody reached out during the floods,” they said.

Sources close to the central ministers, however, defended their action, saying VIP visits would have hampered relief work. “We will not come for photo-ops, boat rides or aerial survey. We will come with a relief package for real help,” said a national BJP leader.

Satnam Singh Ajnala of the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha Punjab said, “Punjabis feel they have been again cold-shouldered by the Centre. Both the Centre and the state government have failed to provide relief to those affected. Punjab has already suffered a lot due to such politics.”

Hours before the PM’s call, Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said it was “unfortunate that the Modi government was neglecting the state when it was battling one of the worst floods in decades”.