On the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to flood-hit Punjab, the state government on Monday rolled out a sweeping relief package, promising what it described as the highest-ever compensation to farmers for crop damage. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced that cultivators will receive Rs 20,000 per acre for crop losses, while families of those who lost their lives in the floods will get Rs 4 lakh each.
The announcement followed a special cabinet meeting chaired virtually by Mann from his hospital room. “My pain is very small compared to yours. Your elected government stands with you at all times,” he said in a video message, adding that his room had been converted into a “control room” to oversee relief work.
The package covers a wide spectrum: six-month loan repayment exemptions to flood-hit families, freedom for farmers to remove and sell sand deposited on their fields without permits until December 31, compensation for damaged houses and livestock, and a vaccination drive for animals.
Public health measures include fogging in 1,700 villages and 300 towns, and mobile medical teams in affected areas. The government has also pledged rapid restoration of schools, colleges and power infrastructure.
According to official estimates, nearly 1,996 villages across 23 districts remain under distress, with 46 lives lost and crops flattened across thousands of hectares.
While the Punjab government has acted, the Centre has so far held back from announcing any significant relief. Officials in Delhi have pointed to existing State Disaster Response Fund allocations and ongoing central assessment surveys. Critics, however, note the contrast with past floods in other states. In 2013, Uttarakhand was given Rs 1,000 crore in immediate relief. In 2017, Gujarat and Bihar each received Rs 500 crore soon after the Prime Minister’s visits, while in 2018 Kerala too was sanctioned Rs 500 crore in the first round of aid. Alongside, ex-gratia from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund—Rs 2 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured—was routinely announced without delay.
Modi is set to conduct an aerial survey and hold a review meeting in Gurdaspur on Tuesday. His trip is being seen as the moment when the Centre will finally break its silence and spell out its support for Punjab’s recovery.
With elections on the horizon and the BJP eyeing space in Punjab’s volatile political landscape, tomorrow’s announcements carry weight beyond disaster relief. What the Prime Minister says—or doesn’t say—may decide whether this visit is remembered as an exercise in damage control or the start of a political turning point in Punjab.
