It seems the Punjab government has once again been caught chasing its own tail. After Union Home Minister Amit Shah publicly revealed that the Punjab government had not even submitted a detailed report on the flood damage, the Aam Aadmi Party administration went into sudden overdrive. The embarrassment was evident — the same government that spent weeks making loud announcements and emotional appeals for central assistance had apparently forgotten to complete the most basic administrative step: submitting the official damage report.
In a hasty attempt to save face, officials in Chandigarh scrambled to compile the long-overdue document. On Monday, the file was finally pieced together — after Amit Shah’s statement went viral and the opposition began mocking the government’s inefficiency. The document, according to state claims, estimates a staggering loss of ₹13,300 crore due to the floods. But this number, too, raises eyebrows — given how abruptly the report was “finalized” and how loosely coordinated the ground surveys appear to have been.
Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha reportedly convened an emergency meeting of all concerned departments to put finishing touches on the report before sending it to the Centre. “We have finalized it. Now we will send it to the Center,” said a senior official, as if confirming that the job was done simply because someone asked about it. The sequence of events has left many questioning whether the document reflects genuine assessment or political damage control.
In the end, it looks like the Punjab government acted not out of urgency for the people’s suffering, but out of fear of being caught unprepared by New Delhi. Once again, rather than proactive governance, what we’re seeing is reactionary paperwork — proof that in Punjab’s corridors of power, it often takes a public rebuke to get even the simplest things done.