Wary of the feasibility of the Centre's “hole-picking” in Punjab's flood damage assessment report amid “tension over disbursal of flood relief”, the state government on Wednesday held yet another meeting of officials from various departments to finalise the memorandum of damage caused by floods. “Dissatisfied” with the outcome of an earlier meeting, where several departments were “unable to assess the complete damage against the estimated amount handed over to the Central committees,” Chief Secretary KAP Sinha on Monday held a meeting with administrative secretaries of four departments of the rural development and panchayats, PWD, animal husbandry and agriculture as a follow up to a meeting on Thursday, government sources said. Sources said Sinha directed PWD officials to revise the estimate of damage, which was earlier assessed at Rs 1,600 crore, but the department later revised it to Rs 1,300 crore. “The Chief Secretary asked officials why the estimated damage was less when it should be high, because more houses were damaged after the Inter-Ministerial Central Team visited the state,” a Punjab government officer told The Indian Express. The officer said secretaries were also wary as the Centre had sent two committees to assess the damage in the state, and both committees would have given their own estimates. “In such a scenario, the Centre will not accept it if our figures look inflated. Most of the secretaries are wary of this. As of now, the estimated damage has not crossed the Rs 13,300-crore mark. The Chief Secretary has called another meeting on Thursday. The government will be submitting the estimated damage as an interim memorandum because surveys are still on for damaged houses, roads, property and the loss of cattle. Upon getting the report, we will be able to provide the exact damage estimate,” said the officer, adding: “The document is being prepared and will be submitted to the Centre soon.” The floods, triggered by relentless monsoon rains in August and September, submerged vast swathes of the state, causing unprecedented losses to crops, infrastructure and livestock. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the flood-ravaged areas on September 9 to review the situation and announced an initial relief package of Rs 1,600 crore. However, the memorandum — to be finalised at a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary — seeks substantially more funds to address the scale of devastation. The rural development and panchayats department has reported the highest losses at Rs 5,043 crore, primarily due to the damage caused to rural roads, community assets and sanitation infrastructure. The public works department (PWD) pegged road and bridge repairs at Rs 1,970 crore, while the water resources department estimated Rs 1,520 crore loss for breaches in embankments and irrigation canals of the Sutlej and Beas rivers. Crop losses alone warrant Rs 1,858 crore in compensation, covering 4 lakh acres of standing paddy and other kharif produce wiped out in the deluge. Other key figures include Rs 1,022 crore for the Punjab Mandi Board to restore market yards and link roads, Rs 780 crore for the health department to rebuild sub-centres and buy equipment, Rs 542 crore for school infrastructure under the education department, and Rs 317 crore for agricultural inputs and machinery. Losses to animal husbandry stand at Rs 103 crore, reflecting the death of hundreds of cattle and poultry. A senior government officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the memo was ready. “We have finalised it. We will now send it to the Centre.” Another officer said the assessment remained unchanged from the preliminary estimates presented to the PM and the central team. “There is no increase. The damage assessed remains the same,” he emphasised.
