Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann released Rs. 62.70 crore to deal with flood situation: Jimpa

Chandigarh, July 17:

          Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has released funds worth Rs. 62.70 crore to all districts to deal with the flood situation.

          Divulging the details, Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa said that this amount will be used for the repair of water supply schemes, for the repair of flood-affected roads and bridges, for evacuating people to safer places, to provide clean drinking water and supply of fodder to livestock etc.

          Jimpa said that recently Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had announced Rs. 71.50 crore as flood relief fund, out of this amount, Rs. 62.70 crore has been released to all the Deputy Commissioners/departments to deal with the flood situation.

          He said that Rs. 1.50 crore has been released to Amritsar district while Rs. 1 crore each to Hoshiarpur, Bathinda, Barnala, Mansa, Pathankot, Malerkotla and Faridkot, Rs. 3.15 crore to Ferozepur, Rs. 1.15 crore to Fazilka and Rs. 3.15 crore released to Fatehgarh Sahib.

          Similarly, Rs 2.50 crore each has been given to Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Kapurthala. He said that Rs. 3 crore has been released to Ludhiana district, Rs. 1.50 crore to Moga, Rs. 5.65 crore to Patiala and Rs. 6.15 crore to Rupnagar.

          The Disaster Management Minister further said that Muktsar Sahib and Taran Taran were given Rs. 2 crore each, Rs. 3.05 crore to S.A.S. Nagar, Rs 1.65 crore has been given to SBS Nagar and Rs. 3.40 crore released to Sangrur. Similarly, an amount of Rs. 50 lakh has been released to the Health Department for clean water supply and Rs. 10 crore to the Water Supply and Sanitation Department for the repair of water supply, drainage and sewage.

          Jimpa said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has repeated many times that it is the priority of the Punjab government to provide all kinds of assistance to the flood-affected areas and state has no dearth of money for this work. He said that no stone would be left unturned to help the flood victims. It is pertinent to mention that apart from this amount, the Chief Minister had released the first installment of Rs. 33.50 crore to all Deputy Commissioners last week to deal with flood situation.

          Jimpa said that out of Rs. 62.70 crore, funds of Rs. 11 crore have been released only for the repair of flood-affected roads and bridges. Rs. 2.50 crore each to Rupnagar and Patiala while SAS Nagar, Gurdaspur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Ludhiana and Sangrur have been given Rs. 1 crore each for the repair of roads and bridges.