Chandigarh: With floodwaters continuing to ravage all 23 districts of Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has convened a special cabinet meeting at his residence this evening to assess the situation and finalize relief measures.
Officials said the meeting will focus on immediate assistance for affected families, rehabilitation efforts, and strategies to restore essential services in submerged areas. Although the Chief Minister had to postpone his visit to flood-hit regions yesterday due to health issues, he is directly overseeing the government’s response.
According to official data, 1,902 villages remain under water, prompting the state to formally declare Punjab a disaster-affected region. To ensure swift delivery of aid, gazetted officers have been deployed in every district, tasked with coordinating relief work and ensuring priority assistance for residents in need.
This year’s disaster has been described as the worst flooding in nearly four decades, comparable only to the devastating deluge of 1988. So far, more than 3.8 lakh people have been impacted, with 43 confirmed deaths and extensive agricultural losses. Roughly 1.72 lakh hectares of crops have been damaged, with Gurdaspur district bearing the heaviest losses.
Meanwhile, three central government teams are touring Punjab to evaluate the scale of destruction. On Monday, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan visited some of the hardest-hit districts, calling the situation an “unprecedented disaster” and assuring federal support for recovery efforts.
With the cabinet meeting scheduled later today, state officials and citizens alike await concrete decisions on relief packages, rehabilitation measures, and long-term strategies to mitigate future disasters.
