Union agriculture and farmer welfare minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will visit Punjab on Thursday to assess the damage to crops as floods wreak havoc in several parts of the state.
All eyes will be on the Union minister’s visit, with the state government and affected farmers hoping for relief from the Centre to come out of this distress.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann has already demanded at least ₹50,000 per acre for the affected farmers from the Centre, stating that the relief guidelines issued by the Union ministry of home affairs fell far short of reality.
The chief minister has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking enhancement of ex gratia payments for disaster victims. He demanded that compensation for families of the deceased be raised from ₹4 lakh to ₹8 lakh, and for disability cases from ₹74,000 to ₹1.5 lakh (40-60% disability), and from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh (above 60% disability).
The agriculture minister announced his planned visit to Punjab in a post on ‘X’. “Today, I discussed the flood situation in Punjab, caused by heavy rainfall, with the governor, chief minister and agriculture minister of the state. I will be reaching Punjab tomorrow morning to meet my brothers and sisters in the affected areas,” said Chouhan.
He said in this hour of crisis, the central government stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Punjab and will provide every possible assistance.
According to the official programme of the Union minister, he will arrive at Guru Ramdas International Airport, Amritsar, at 9.30 am, from where he will visit Ghonewal village in Amritsar district, and interact with the affected families and the farmers. According to senior government functionaries in Punjab, the minister will be accompanied by Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Khudian.
Chouhan will then go to Dharamkot Randhawa village and Behrampur village in Gurdaspur district to interact with affected farmer families, before travelling to Begowal in Kapurthala district. He will return to Amritsar in the evening, where he will address a press conference and hold a meeting with the administration. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann is likely to accompany the minister here.
According to an official statement from the Punjab BJP, Union minister of state Ravneet Bittu and Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar will receive Chouhan at the Amritsar airport, and accompany him throughout the day while interacting with farmers.