Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening called up Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to take stock of the flood situation in Punjab, in what was the first communication by the Centre with the state that has been battling nature’s fury for a week.
Official sources said the first thing the PM did after landing in Delhi from China was to dial the Punjab CM. “Immediately after landing in Delhi, the PM called up CM Bhagwant Mann to discuss the situation arising out of the rain and flooding in Punjab. He assured the state of all help,” the sources said.
The PM is also likely to soon hold a meeting with the Centre’s inter-ministerial teams to review the situation in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
The phone call came a day after CM Mann wrote a letter to the PM seeking the release of the state’s pending dues of Rs 60,000 crore. No central minister or a top BJP leader has so far visited Punjab to take stock of the floods, which have claimed 29 lives and submerged over 1,000 villages.
A Punjab Government official said, “The state has asked the Centre through the CM to relax norms under the Disaster Management Act for the payment of relief. With floods being included as ‘disaster’ under the Act, there is no need for a separate declaration or a notification (as done by Himachal by declaring the entire state as ‘disaster-hit’).”