Chandigarh, Sept. 25 — The Punjab government will distribute two lakh quintals of wheat seeds free of cost to farmers who lost crops on nearly five lakh acres of farmland during the recent floods, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said Thursday.
Mann noted that the seeds, worth ₹74 crore, will be given ahead of the upcoming Rabi season. “Our food grain producers have suffered huge losses in the recent floods. This is a small initiative to ease their difficulties,” he said. “The hardworking farmers have played a vital role in making the country self-reliant in food grain production, and the state government stands with them in this hour of crisis.”
The chief minister described the flood damage as unprecedented. “The scale of destruction caused by these devastating floods cannot be imagined. Punjab has never seen such devastation before,” Mann said.
According to government figures, 2,300 villages were inundated, affecting more than 20 lakh people. Nearly 56 lives were lost, about seven lakh people were displaced, and crops across half a million acres were wiped out. Infrastructure also suffered heavily, with 3,200 government schools damaged, 19 colleges destroyed, 1,400 clinics and hospitals hit, 8,500 kilometers of roads ruined and 2,500 bridges collapsed.
Mann said the estimated loss stood at around ₹13,800 crore, though the real figure could be higher. “We will leave no stone unturned to help farmers and people of Punjab recover from this disaster,” he added.
