Release Rs 60K-cr dues for flood relief: Mann to PM Modi

With 26 deaths, including two reported today, 2.50 lakh persons in nearly 1,300 villages across eight districts affected and standing crops on over 3 lakh acres of land destroyed in the worst-ever floods in Punjab in recent history, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, sought the release of the state’s pending dues of Rs 60,000 crore.

Meanwhile, incessant rain continued to lash most parts of the state today with a red alert being issued for the nine districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Ropar, Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib for Monday. The authorities, though jittery, are prepared to deal with situation. One person is reported to have died in Lehra today. The body of the chargeman at the Madhopur barrage, who was swept in the Ravi waters last week, has been recovered.

122 relief camps operational

-- Most Cabinet ministers continue to remain in flood-hit areas to oversee relief ops

-- As many as 14,936 people have been evacuated from different districts

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-- Army, IAF, BSF personnel, 10 NDRF teams and police involved in relief work

-- 122 relief camps operational, 6,582 people shifted there

Sources in the Punjab Government said the Bhakra Beas Management Board was scheduled to hold a meeting to assess the heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of the Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej, which would lead to an increase in the inflow at the Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams.

The water level of the Pong Dam today was 1 ft above the danger mark of 1,390 ft, necessitating controlled release of 1.09 lakh cusecs. The water level of the Bhakra Dam, too, has increased slightly to 1,672.94 ft and 58,704 cusecs of water was released. From Ranjit Sagar Dam, 42,809 cusecs of water was released.

With the Beas and the Ghaggar in spate, and the water from the Ravi overflowing and moving into Gurdaspur (Dera Baba Nanak and Kalanaur) and Ajnala in Amritsar, the flood situation in the state continued to remain critical.

The Ravi water flow at Dharamkot (Gurdaspur) was still over 4.63 lakh cusecs, while it increased slightly in the Beas, having reached 2.21 lakh cusecs at Dhilwan (near Sultanpur Lodhi) this evening. At Harike and Hussainiwala, the water flow was again high at 2.63 lakh cusecs and 2.53 lakh cusecs, thus affecting Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka.

While Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal asked the Centre to step in with aid to help in the relief and rescue operations, Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who earlier represented flood-ravaged Dera Baba Nanak as MLA, said the administration was found lacking in relief measures. “The actual relief is being done by volunteers of Khalsa Aid and Dera Radha Soami, besides other religious organisations,” he said.

With crops on thousands of acres submerged, Fatehgarh Churian MLA Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said the least the state government could do was to release the pending dues of sugarcane growers of Gurdaspur.

Crops on around 1,000 acres in Dera Bassi and Sangrur have been damaged along the Ghaggar. While the authorities have asked people living along the river to stay alert, they say the water level is still below the danger mark. The water flow at Sardulgarh in Ghaggar was recorded at 21,000 cusecs this evening.

The AAP government in Punjab today urged the Centre to allow it to change the norms for disaster relief compensation for crop loss, increasing it from the now allowed Rs 6,800 per acre (where the crop loss is over 33 per cent) to Rs 50,000 per acre. The Centre has constituted an inter-ministerial team to visit the flood-affected areas and assess the damage.

The Punjab Government pays a compensation of Rs 8,200 per acre over and above what is allowed, from its own coffers, leading to farmers getting Rs 15,000 per acre as compensation.

The state has Rs 10,000 crore in its kitty as disaster relief fund, wherein 75 per cent is given by the Centre while 25 per cent is contributed by the state. However, the norms for compensation are fixed uniformly for all states by the Centre.

Mann, in his letter to Modi, not just sought a change in the norms, but also called for his urgent intervention to release all funds due to the state — Rs 60,000 crore — which, he claimed, were stuck with the Centre.

“We are grappling with the worst-ever floods… there is a permanent loss of revenue on account of the implementation of the GST to the tune of Rs 49,727 crore, for which no compensation has been provided… the reduction of the RDF and the MDF has led to dues of Rs 8,000 crore accumulating with the Centre, while scrapping of the PMGSY has led to the state losing Rs 828 crore,” he said.