Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said that he will submit a detailed report of the losses to the Prime Minister. In a social media post, he said the crisis is immense, but the Central Government will leave no stone unturned to take Punjab out of it. Mr Chouhan, who was on a day-long visit to the flood-affected Punjab, yesterday, stressed on short, medium and long-term plans for the reconstruction of the flood-affected areas.
Blaming the illegal mining for weakening the embankments on the banks of Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Ghaggar rivers in the state, which caused water to enter villages, Mr Chouhan said that during the regime of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and former Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, these were strengthened and raised to protect crops from floods. He said now it is necessary to strengthen these again so that Punjab can be saved from such tragedies in future. He said the state government will also have to work at the ground level with full seriousness.
Appreciating the services being provided by the general public and social workers to the flood victims in this hour of crisis, he said he salutes the spirit of service of Punjabis. The Minister said that this spirit of unity and service gives us the strength to come out of even bigger than the present crisis.
He assured full support from the Centre to the state.
Mr Chouhan visited many villages of Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Kapurthala to take stock of the flood situation