Chandigarh, Sep 24 (IANS) In a humanitarian move, the Punjab government led by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday decided to provide two lakh quintal wheat seeds free of cost to farmers who have lost their crop in around five lakh acres of land in the floods.

Divulging the details, the Chief Minister said the food growers of the state have suffered a whopping loss during the floods, adding these two lakh quintal seeds of Rs 74 crore will be provided free of cost to them.

He said that the hard working and resilient farmers of the state had played a key role in making the country self-sufficient in food production.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the state government is fully with the farmers in this hour of crisis and no stone will be left unturned to bail them out.

The Chief Minister said the state government will provide free seeds of wheat to these farmers for the upcoming Rabi crop.

He said that this is a humble effort by the state government to mitigate the woes faced by the farmers due to the devastation caused by the floods.

CM Mann said that the destruction caused by these floods is unimaginable and unprecedented as Punjab had never seen such damage before.

The Chief Minister said the floods have submerged over 2,300 villages, affected more than 2 million people, and destroyed crops across five lakh acres of land.

Tragically, he said that 56 lives were lost, and around seven lakh people were rendered homeless, adding that 3,200 government schools were damaged, 19 colleges reduced to rubble, 1,400 clinics and hospitals were ruined, 8,500 km of roads were destroyed, and 2,500 bridges collapsed.

CM Mann said that as per initial estimates, the total damage amounts to approximately Rs 13,800 crore, though the actual figure can be even higher.

–IANS

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