CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government has sought the Centre’s intervention for allowing the use of disaster relief funds to compensate farmers whose transplanted paddy saplings were destroyed in the flashfloods last month.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has reportedly sent a demi-official letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Earlier, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma had written to the Government of India in this regard.
As the inter-ministerial team from the Centre is starting a three-day tour of flood-affected areas from Tuesday, the state government is pinning hopes on the team to accept its request to allow the payment to the farmers from the disaster relief fund.
While 75 per cent of the funds towards disaster relief are contributed by the Centre, the rest is given by the state government. However, the rules allow compensation for standing crop alone and not for damage to saplings. When the flashfloods hit the state in early July, the paddy saplings had just been transplanted. According to the state government’s own estimates, crops on 2.59 lakh acres were destroyed in the floods.
A seven-member team, to be headed by Ravinesh Kumar, Financial Adviser in the National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs, will visit villages located along the Ghaggar in Mohali, Patiala and Sangrur on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the team will visit villages of Ropar and Jalandhar along the Sutlej.
Financial Commissioner, Revenue, KAP Sinha told reporters that during the debriefing session to be held with the central team on Thursday, the issue of damage to crops and compensation to be given, would be discussed.