Chandigarh, Feb. 15 -- Months after the worst floods in decades battered Punjab, the state government has launched a Rs.52-crore flood protection plan ahead of monsoon this year, focusing on villages historically vulnerable to inundation.

Announcing the plan on Friday, Punjab education and information and public relations minister Harjot Singh Bains said the works will cover villages along the banks of the Sutlej and Swan rivers in the Anandpur Sahib constituency.

"The flood protection plan is aimed at permanently securing vulnerable villages that have historically faced the brunt of floods during the monsoon. Works worth Rs.52 crore have already been tendered and commenced, with physical construction set to gather pace within a fortnig...