Chandigarh, Sept. 18 -- The Centre has released the second instalment of Rs.240.80 crore to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) of Punjab for flood relief. The sanction was cleared last week by the Union finance ministry's department of expenditure, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement during his visit to flood-hit areas of Punjab that the amount would be released in advance. With this, the central government has so far released Rs.481.80 crore for Punjab this fiscal. Adding the state's contribution of Rs.160.80 crore, the total SDRF corpus has now reached Rs.642.40 crore. The SDRF is jointly funded by the Centre and states in a 75:25 ratio. Welcoming the release, Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu, in a post on X said: "This reflects the unwavering commitment of Modi Sarkar to support Punjab and its people in every hour of need." However, the announcement drew sharp criticism from the AAP. Neel Garg, AAP spokesperson, said BJP leaders were "rubbing salt into Punjab's wounds." "The state had suffered losses worth thousands of crores, while the Centre is highlighting a "meagre" relief amount," he said. The row comes against the backdrop of claims and counter-claims over the size of Punjab's disaster relief kitty. While the PM recently cited Rs.12,000 crore available in the state's SDRF kitty, the AAP government countered that it had received only Rs.1,582 crore during its tenure. The Opposition has since demanded a probe into what it called "missing" funds....