Chandigarh, Sept. 10 -- Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema and his cabinet colleagues on Tuesday condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's financial assistance package for Punjab, calling it a "cruel joke" on the state's flood-ravaged people.

Calling it 'meagre and insulting', Cheema said that the aid of Rs.1,600 crore is grossly inadequate relief for the state facing the worst floods in four decades.

"The PM's visit was nothing more than a photo-op. After weeks of our state battling an unprecedented natural calamity, the Prime Minister has finally responded with an aid package that is a pittance. The losses incurred by our farmers, labourers, poor people, businesses, and infrastructure run into tens of thousands of crores," Cheema sai...