New Delhi: Giving major relief to flood affected people of Fazilka district, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today ordered immediate release of Rs 32 crore against the compensation pending for the year 2020 due to floods in district of the state.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Chief Minister in a meeting held here at his office with the MLAs of the Fazilka district.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister bemoaned that it is unfortunate that the flood fury had created whopping loss in the Fazilka district in 2020 but except lip service the then government had done nothing to give relief to people. He said that floods had caused major damage in Abohar, Arniwala and Jalalabad blocks of the district. Bhagwant Mann said that out of total Rs 32 crore, damage worth Rs 28 crore was done to the crops whereas the remaining Rs 4 crore loss was done to the other houses and other establishments.

The Chief Minister said that instead of extending a helping hand to flood effected people the then state government had been dilly delaying the matter to further aggrieve the situation of the people in distress. He asserted that the apathetic attitude of the then government was visible from the fact that not even a single penny was given as compensation to the people. Bhagwant Mann unequivocally said that however the Aam Aadmi government which is concerned for the well being of people will leave no stone unturned for this noble cause.

The Chief Minister immediately ordered the Revenue department to complete the formalities for early disbursement of the compensation to people. He said that the compensation should be distributed to people without any further inordinate delay. Bhagwant Mann categorically said that any sort of laxity in completing this work in a time bound manner will not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, MLAs from Fazilka Narinder Pal Singh, Amandeep Singh and Jagdeep Kamboj thanked the Chief Minister for this decision. They said that Chief Minister had giving a major relief to people of Fazilka for which they will ever remain indebted to him. The MLAs also hailed the pro-people and development oriented initiatives being taken by the Chief Minister.