The North News
Chandigarh, September 30
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Tuesday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide a special relief package for the state after devastating floods, saying the support announced so far is inadequate. Mann, who met Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday, said the Centre’s relief of 1,600 crore rupees was “miniscule” compared with the state’s preliminary loss estimate of more than 13,800 crore rupees. He requested a revision of compensation norms under the State and National Disaster Response Funds. According to the Chief Minister, the floods affected more than 20 lakh people across 2,614 villages, with nearly seven lakh displaced. Around 4.8 lakh acres of crops were destroyed, 17,000 houses damaged, 2.5 lakh livestock affected and significant damage caused to over 4,600km of roads, 485 bridges and nearly 200 markets.
CM Mann argued that compensation for crop loss under existing disaster norms was too low. He proposed that farmers receive 50,000 rupees per acre for crops destroyed at harvest stage, compared with the current 6,800 rupees. The state government, he said, has already raised its contribution, offering up to 20,000 rupees per acre for major crop loss. He also called for compensation for damaged homes to be doubled, and for higher payments for partially damaged houses and cattle sheds. The chief minister said the worst-hit districts were Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Fazilka, Kapurthala and Ferozepur, and asked for relaxation of paddy procurement norms during the 2025–26 kharif marketing season. CM Mann further pressed for funds to protect flood-prone border areas along the Ravi and Satluj rivers, where erosion threatens farmland and Border Security Force outposts. He said a 176-crore rupee project report had already been submitted but funds were still pending.
Raising another issue, the Chief Minister demanded the release of more than 11,200 crore rupees in Rural Development Fee and Market Fee arrears, which he said were due under central laws and critical for rural infrastructure development. Mann told Amit Shah that Punjab had suffered its worst floods since 1988 and urged early intervention to ensure farmers and rural communities were not left to bear the burden alone.
