The Punjab government on Monday declared the current flood situation in the affected villages of the state as a natural calamity, with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh directing the Financial Commissioner Revenue to issue the necessary notification at the earliest.
Amarinder Singh asked the Financial Commissioner to officially declare natural calamity in the villages as a unit in order to facilitate the affected people to claim insurance against the losses from various companies.
This would also help the banks, especially the state cooperative banks, to restructure and defer the recovery of crop loans from the farmers, as per the norms of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The Chief Minister was chairing a high-level meeting to review the flood preparedness in the state.
Had visited Ropar today to assess the damage and interact with families who have been impacted. I assure everyone that we are committed to restoring normalcy in flood-hit regions at the earliest and my government will take all possible measures for the same. pic.twitter.com/2NdFbh23hJ
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 19, 2019
During the meeting, he asked the Finance Department to immediately clear the pending relief funds to the tune of around Rs 100 crore for expeditious disbursement by the Revenue Department through the respective Deputy Commissioners.
Amarinder Singh, who had earlier in the day visited the flood-hit areas in Ropar to make an on-the-ground assessment of the situation, also directed all the Deputy Commissioners, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and all other state government departments and entities to closely monitor the flood situation in close coordination with the police with a view to providing not only expeditious rescue and relief operations, but also to take pro-active preventive measures.
Visited Ropar to take stock of the flood situation. 696 people have been rescued from 71 villages till now. @NDRFHQ & @PunjabGovtIndia have deployed 13 boats, 2 divers & 29 JCBs to expedite rescue operations. Have directed DC to take all necessary steps to assist the public. pic.twitter.com/oIybF7LiKG
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 19, 2019
Compensation as per the prescribed norms should be disbursed expeditiously in case of death to the next of kin forthwith, the Chief Minister directed, while also ordering temporary subsistence allowance to the migrant labours, who may otherwise not be covered in the existing relief norms under the state policy, to be paid out of the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.
Amarinder Singh announced on Monday that his government would earmark Rs 100 crore for flood relief, as reports of large-scale damage to property continues to trickle in from the various parts of the state.
A press statement from the Punjab government quoted the chief minister, who was on a visit to flood-hit areas of Ropar, as saying that the administration would conduct a special girdwari, or a crop inspection, to assess the crop damage because of the flood.
Captain Amarinder also expressed grief over the death of three people due to roof collapse in Ludhiana district, the statement said. The press statement quoted the chief minister as describing the situation as “unprecedented” and promising all possible assistance to local residents to rebuild their lives.
Ropar is one of the worst hit districts of the state: as waters of Sutlej and its tributaries, Budhki and Sarsa, swelled, district administration ordered evacuation of some 35 villages on Monday. Water released from Bhakra dam added to the chaos.