A torrent of measures on Friday gushed out of the Chief Minister’s office for ensuring effective relief operations for the people in flood of tears after three-day incessant rains washed away the normal state of affair in Punjab. In full flow, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh made his ministers responsible for pulling the people of the State out of deep waters.
Reviewing the progress of rescue and relief operations, the Chief Minister has assigned responsibilities to his five cabinet ministers to oversee work.
“The state’s Industries Minister Sundar Sham Arora and the state Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channy has been asked to oversee operations in Ropar district, while Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar, and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu will oversee operations in Jalandhar and Kapurthala,” said the spokesperson.
Spokesperson informed that the Chief Minister has expressed concern over the slow pace of resumption of electricity supply in certain flood-affected areas. “The Chief Minister has asked the state Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and the PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited) chairman-cum-managing director Baldev Sran to tour the areas and ensure early resumption,” added the spokesperson.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had tweeted that he had directed all the officials to be “on their toes”, while maintaining that the State Government, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army, and Indian Air Force are working collectively to carry out relief work.
“@PunjabGovtIndia along with @NDRFHQ, @adgpi & @IAF_MCC are working with urgency to carry out relief work. I will again appeal to everyone to move to specially created camps because saving lives is of prime importance. I have directed all the officials to be on their toes,” he had tweeted on Friday.
In another tweet, the Chief Minister informed that a breach in Mau Sahib village has been plugged. “Good news coming in from Phillaur, where the local administration has plugged a 165 feet breach in Mau Sahib village with the help from MGNREGA workers and volunteers from various organisations. Relief work is being carried out on war footing to ensure normalcy returns at the earliest,” he said in his tweet.
Meanwhile, to help out the flood victims, all IPS Officers of the Punjab cadre have unanimously decided to contribute a day’s salary each to the CM Flood Relief Fund, according to DGP Dinkar Gupta.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala informed the Chief Minister that out of the 82 flood affected villages in the district, 20 were inundated.
A dedicated team comprising a MBBS doctor, along with staff and requisite medical kits, had been pressed into service in each of these villages. In addition, a veterinary doctor with staff, a food inspector, full dry ration for three days and a police constable had also been deputed in these villages.
Apart from providing adequate medical assistance to the people and veterinary care to the livestock, two kg feed per cattle per day was being distributed for livestock, in addition to adequate medical assistance to the people and livestock.
The Chief Minister was apprised by Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner that the drainage wing of the Water Resources Department had been asked to complete the work of plugging the 350 feet wide breach at village Meowal in Phillaur Sub-Division by Saturday.
He also told the Chief Minister that volunteers and MGNREGA workers were engaged in filling sand bags for plugging of this breach.
Capt Amarinder was further informed by Ropar Deputy Commissioner that the relief and flood protection works in affected areas were going on in full swing as the water level was gradually receding.
Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh visited the flood hit areas and interacted with the local residents during the day. He asked the Deputy Commissioner Ropar to ensure adequate supply of feed and fodder for the cattle, besides providing the best medical assistance to the people in the region.