According to a Punjab government officer, the final assessment was carried out under the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) framework, which applies once a state is declared severely flood-affected. (file)
Punjab has revised its flood damage assessment for the second time, reducing its final relief demand to Rs 11,855 crore, as the state government sent its final report to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) earlier this month.
The assessment has been scaled down from Rs 13,289 crore in the preliminary memorandum to Rs 12,905 crore in October 2025, and now to Rs 11,855 crore in January 2026 — a reduction of Rs 1,050 crore from the October estimate.
The assessment was finalised after several central teams visited the flood-hit areas. The exercise had earlier triggered a political controversy after Union minister Shivraj Chouhan blamed illegal mining for causing floods in Punjab. Centre-state relations hit a new low when the Punjab government alleged that not a single rupee had been released by the Centre towards flood relief, while the Centre sought details of nearly Rs 12,000 crore lying in the state’s disaster management fund.
“The earlier memorandum was based on approximations. This report reflects actual damage, and the figures were finalised in agreement with the central teams,” the officer said, adding that it took nearly three months to complete the report.
The report sent to the NDMA seeks Rs 11,855.65 crore for rebuilding public infrastructure. This includes Rs 3,949 crore for road repairs, Rs 3,034 crore for agriculture and horticulture, Rs 2,077.61 crore for the Water Resources and Irrigation Department, Rs 1,137 crore for schools and colleges, and Rs 1,135 crore for hospitals and dispensaries.
Additional allocations sought include Rs 149 crore for animal husbandry, Rs 37.20 crore for the power department’s infrastructure, Rs 34.51 crore for fisheries, Rs 22.01 crore for water supply and sanitation, and Rs 3.6 crore for the forest and environment department. The state has also sought an additional Rs 274 crore under other heads
Curated by James Chen
