Chandigarh, August 22: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said he was touched by the overwhelming gratitude shown by the people of flood-hit Kerala in response to the support extended by his government in their relief efforts.
The Chief Minister said this in a tweet in response to a video showing people of Kerala raising slogans in favour of Punjab while collecting boxes of relief material sent by the latter.
“Touched by the overwhelming gratitude of the people of Kerala for our small contribution to #KeralaFloodsRelief. We in Punjab will continue to do our best to assist in their relief and rehabilitation.” – tweeted Captain Amarinder.
The Chief Minister later said he felt truly humbled by the appreciation shown by the people of Kerala to the small gesture of his government. It was the duty of every Indian to come forward to join the relief efforts in Kerala, which had been devastated by unprecedented floods.
Captain Amarinder had last week announced Rs 10 crore worth of assistance to the Kerala Government, including financial assistance of Rs. 5 crore which had been transferred to the Kerala CM’s fund from the Punjab Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The remaining had been dispatched through Air Force sorties in the form of plane loads of relief material, consisting mainly of ready-to-use material in the form of one kg packets of drinking water, biscuits, chana and milk powder, as requested by the Kerala government.
The State Government had deputed IAS officer Basant Garg, along with a small team of officials at Thiruvananthapuram, to liaison with the Kerala State Government for better coordination of the relief operation, said the spokesperson.
Captain Amarinder said his government would mobilise further relief material, as needed, after ascertaining the specific requirements of the local administration in Kerala. He has also appealed to all Punjabis to come forward to join the government’s relief efforts.
