Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann released relief amount of Rs. 285 crore for flood affected till now: Jimpa
Chandigarh News: Punjab Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa today said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has released an amount to the tune of Rs 285.32 crore to all the 23 districts of Punjab to compensate the flood damage till August 31. He said that instructions had already been issued to all the Deputy Commissioners that the relief compensation should be distributed to the deserving people in a transparent and hassle-free manner. Apart from this, there should be no recommendation or favour to influential people while disbursing compensations and it should be given only to the genuine person on the basis of merit.
Jimpa said that Rs. 33.50 crore was released as advance relief as soon as reports of flood risk were received in the month of July. After this, relief funds have been released to the affected districts and some departments from time to time. He said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann released an amount of more than Rs. 186 crore on August 21 for crop damage compensation. This is the first time that a government is giving compensation of Rs. 6800 per acre for damaged paddy sapling, he added. Besides this, compensation is also being disbursed for loss of human lives, livestock and houses.
The Disaster Management Minister further said that the compensation was being provided to the affected people as per the Girdavari reports. Pertinently,a sum of Rs. 76.15 crore have been released to Patiala districts whereas for Amritsar district Rs. 5.23 crore, Ferozepur Rs. 25.59 crore, Fazilka Rs. 10.27 crore, Fatehgarh Sahib Rs. 4.74 crore, Gurdaspur Rs. 8.34 crore, Hoshiarpur Rs. 4.50 crore, Jalandhar Rs. 11.08 crore and Rs.2.50 crore to Kapurthala district.
Similarly Rs. 10.83 crore to Rupnagar, Rs. 31.48 crore to Sangrur, Rs. 5.31 crore to Ludhiana, Rs. 5.49 crore to Moga, Rs. 15.92 crore to Mansa, Rs. 2 crore to Sri Muktsar Sahib, Rs. 7.48 crore to Mohali, Rs. 3.40 crores to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and Rs. 28.52 crore have been released on Tarn Taran district. While 1 crore each has been given to Bathinda, Barnala, Malerkotla and Faridkot districts. Apart from this, an amount of Rs. 20.50 crore has also been released to health, water supply & sanitation and school education departments.
Jimpa said that the Punjab government has no dearth of funds to compensate the flood affected people as state disaster management relief funds had sufficient funds. He pointed out that only stipulated compensation as per the Centre Government’s relaxation in rules could be provided to the affected people. He said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has also written a letter to the central government regarding this but no positive response has been received yet.