Chandigarh, Sept. 9 -- Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, the state cabinet on Monday approved a flood relief package, including Rs.20,000 per acre compensation to farmers for crop damage, Rs.4 lakh ex gratia for loss of life, and permission to landowners to remove and sell the sand deposited in their fields by floodwaters.

The cabinet decisions were announced by CM Bhagwant Mann through a video message from a private hospital in Mohali after a meeting of the state cabinet here. Mann attended the cabinet meeting virtually from the hospital, where he has been admitted since September 5 due to exhaustion and a low heart rate. Mann said that the government will give a compensation of up to Rs.20,000 per acre to farmers...