Finance Commission team visits flood-affected areas of Punjab

Responding to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's request, a high-level team of the 14th Finance Commission today visited the flood-affected areas of this district to assess the damage caused to public installations, houses and crops.
The delegation, led by its chairman Y V Reddy, would submit its recommendations to the Centre for evolving an action plan to check recurrence of such calamities due to the perennial problem of water-logging in the region, a state government release said.
The delegation members interacted with residents of Khokhar, Haraaz and Udaikaran villages, it said.
Chairman of the Planning Commission's Agriculture Committee Prof Abhijit Sen, who was part of the delegation, assured villagers that he would soon recommend the Commission to depute another team to assess the damage caused to crops, houses and physical infrastructure, especially roads and power grid stations, in the recent floods.

"Planning Commission is fully aware of the water-logging problem in Malwa belt as it had earlier sent a team led by its member and water resources expert Prof Mihir Shah, who had submitted a detailed report to tackle the issue," he said.
Prof Sen told the Chief Minister that a committee headed by Shah would revisit the flood-affected areas to take stock of the entire situation and take steps in averting recurrence of such situation.
Meanwhile, Badal said the centuries-old drainage system was gradually crumbling and it was need of the hour to revamp it for which the Centre should come forward with "massive financial assistance to ultimately relieve people from the pangs of water-logging".

He urged the Commission to impress upon the Centre to send a team of experts on hydrology and drainage to address the problem of water-logging efficaciously, besides revamping the state's entire drainage system.