Chandigarh/New Delhi, September 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening telephoned Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to review the worsening flood crisis in the state, marking the Centre’s first direct communication with Chandigarh after a week of relentless rains and devastation.
According to official sources, the call was made soon after the Prime Minister returned from China. “Immediately after landing in Delhi, the PM called up CM Bhagwant Mann to discuss the situation arising out of the rain and flooding in Punjab. He assured the state of all help,” one official said. Modi is also expected to chair a meeting shortly with inter-ministerial teams to assess the situation across Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The outreach followed a sharp letter written by Mann a day earlier, urging the Centre to clear pending state dues worth Rs 60,000 crore. So far, no Union minister or senior BJP leader has physically visited Punjab, where floods have claimed 29 lives and left more than 1,000 villages inundated.
Punjab officials said the state has formally requested the Centre to ease norms under the Disaster Management Act to facilitate relief payments. “With floods already covered under the Act as a disaster, no separate declaration is needed, unlike Himachal Pradesh which declared the entire state disaster-hit,” a senior state officer explained.
In New Delhi, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated that the Centre was actively “addressing the devastating floods in Punjab” and promised full support to those affected. “Punjab farmers should not worry as the Centre stands firmly by them in this hour of natural calamity,” Chouhan remarked.
The comment, however, failed to placate local BJP leaders. Some within the Punjab unit privately admitted that the party might have squandered a chance to connect with rural voters. “A statement by Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu on the ‘Bandi Sikhs’, repeated visits by Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini to Punjab, and job offers to 1984 riot victims had placed the BJP on a promising track. But the absence of visible outreach during these floods seems a missed opportunity,” one leader observed.
Defending the Centre’s approach, a national BJP leader insisted that delaying ministerial visits was intentional. “We will not come for photo-ops, boat rides or aerial surveys. We will come with a relief package for real help,” he said.
Outside political circles, farmers’ bodies voiced anger over the Centre’s perceived indifference. Satnam Singh Ajnala of the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha Punjab said, “Punjabis feel they have been again cold-shouldered by the Centre. Both the Centre and the state government have failed to provide relief. Punjab has already suffered a lot due to such politics.”
Earlier in the day, before Modi’s call, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema accused the Union government of ignoring the crisis. “It is unfortunate that the Modi government is neglecting the state when it is battling one of the worst floods in decades,” Cheema said.
