Published Aug 10, 2023 | 8:10 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 10, 2023 | 8:10 PM
Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma in the meeting with the central team. (Supplied)
As Punjab limps back to normalcy after the recent floods, the state government on Thursday, 10 August, requested the Union government to relax the compensation norms and demanded an increase in the amount paid for loss of life and property, to compensate victims better.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that he had already written a letter to the Union home minister saying that there was no shortfall in the state disaster relief funds to compensate the victims.
He said that the state only needed a change in the norms for compensating those who suffered damage so that the losses faced by the people could be fully compensated.
Elaborating on the letter written by the chief minister, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma said that the government wants to double the compensation given to the flood victims, just as the amount given to the family of a deceased person was increased from ₹4 lakh to ₹8 lakh.
“He demanded to increase the compensation for damaged crops from ₹17,000 to ₹34,000, for milch animals from ₹37,500 to ₹75,000, for damaged houses from ₹1.2 lakh to ₹2.40 lakh. He said that the state government was standing by its people in their hour of crisis and had funds to provide compensation, but only because of the norms of the Union Home Ministry, it is unable to provide adequate compensation,” said Verma.
Therefore, there is a need to change these norms,” he added.
A seven-member inter-ministerial team from the Union government is on a visit to Punjab to make a ground-level assessment of the damage caused by the floods. Verma, in a meeting with the visiting team, requested them to relax the norms of assistance to the victims.
The team’s head, Financial Advisor of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Ravinish Kumar, said that his team had visited many states and had assessed that it was Punjab that suffered the most damage, after Himachal Pradesh.
Another member of the team, ISRO’s Head of Flood Mapping Dr AV Suresh Babu, said that it was also clear from satellite images that the heavy rain caused a lot of damage in Punjab and many areas were under water.
Giving details of the damage caused by the floods, the chief secretary said that ₹605.38 crore was related to agriculture in the state, ₹173.1 crore to PWD (Roads and Buildings), ₹159.36 crore to water resources, ₹44.38 crore to urban infrastructure/local governments, ₹43.66 crore to rural development and panchayats.
He added that damage amounting to ₹26.85 crore was related to the School Education Department, ₹17.50 crore to the Power Department, ₹9.98 crore to the Fisheries Department, ₹.5.66 crore to the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, ₹4.45 crore to the Health Department, and miscellaneous losses accounted for ₹230.26 crore.
A total loss of ₹1,320.59 crore has been incurred by the state due to the floods, he said..
In a letter to the Union home secretary, the chief secretary said that about 1,500 villages in 19 districts were affected by the floods this year. Apart from loss of crops, people also suffered loss of life and property.
