Badal asks Planning Commission to send team for assessing flood loss

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Planning Commission of India (PCI) to send a team for assessing the loss caused in the state due to the floods besides suggesting measures to avert such natural tragedies in future.

 

Talking to the media persons after visiting nine flood affected villages of Sri Muktsar Sahib district today, the Chief Minister said that the disaster caused by the floods was a national disaster and it was the responsibility of entire nation to bail the people out in this hour of crisis. He said that the Centre must dispatch a high level team of PCI to tour the flood ravaged regions of the state and suggest about the precautionary measures to avoid such situation in the future. Badal said that he would soon take up this matter with the top brass of the PCI so that a timely action could be taken on the issue.

 

Likewise the Chief Minister also said that the state government would also raise the issue of enhancing the amount of relief to the flood victims with the Finance Commission of India, to assure adequate compensation to the flood victims. He pointed out that the relief given to the flood victims was too inadequate to help them in this critical situation so the need of the hour was to revise it rationally so that the losses of the people could be minimized. Badal said that the state government would take every possible step to ensure that maximum compensation was awarded to the farmers and the people so that a helping hand could be extended to them. 

 

The Chief Minister reiterated that he had already ordered to defer the recovery of crop loans of the Co-operative societies thereby converting the short term crop loans of farmers into medium term crop loans in order to ease out pressure of

repayment on them.