India, Sept. 1 -- With Punjab facing one of the worst flood disasters in decades, chief minister Bhagwant Mann wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, requesting the release of Rs.60,000 crore of pending funds from the central government and a revision of norms for compensation to farmers and others from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

He proposed raising the crop loss compensation from the existing Rs.15,000 per acre to Rs.50,000 per acre.

In his letter, the CM informed the Prime Minister that lakhs of people in around 1,000 villages have been affected, and about 3-lakh acres of farmland, primarily paddy fields, are submerged under floodwaters in districts, including Gurdaspu...