Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon visit flood-affected states to take stock of the situation, official sources said on Friday. Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are among the worst-affected states in north India.
Officials said PM Modi will visit a few of these areas to take stock of the situation amid demands from some state governments for funds to deal with the crisis. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who visited Punjab on Thursday, will submit a “detailed report” on the damage caused by the deluge.
Chouhan said he visited Punjab on the instructions of PM Modi. “The flood situation in Punjab has left the Honorable Prime Minister extremely concerned. On his instructions, I went to Punjab to understand the situation there,” Chouhan wrote on X.
He said, “In this hour of crisis, the Central Government stands with the people and farmers of Punjab… To bring Punjab out of this crisis, we will have to prepare short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans.”
“I will submit a detailed report to the PM. The crisis is big, but the Central Government will leave no stone unturned to overcome this crisis.” The minister said the state government has to work with “full seriousness” at the grassroots level, and a plan has to be put in place to remove the silt from the fields so that the sowing of Rabi crops is not affected.
“When the water recedes, there will be a risk of diseases spreading. Dead animals will have to be disposed of safely so that diseases do not spread…” Chouhan said.
He said embankments (bunds) along Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Ghaggar rivers were strengthened during the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and erstwhile CM Parkash Singh Badal. “But due to illegal mining, they have weakened, and water has entered the villages. Now it is necessary to strengthen those structures…,” he said.
With PTI inputs
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