THE Punjab government has announced a generous-sounding flood relief package: Rs1m for a destroyed house, Rs500,000 for one partly damaged, Rs20,000 per acre of submerged land, and Rs500,000 for each cow or buffalo lost. It boasts all this will be paid from its own coffers, sans foreign aid. Yet one crucial detail is missing: the timeline. For families living on embankments under the open sky, a pledge without a deadline is as painful as the losses endured. The mode of delivery has also become politicised. Rather than use existing national channels such as the BISP, which has databases and distribution networks, Punjab has opted to design new ‘relief cards’. Ministers claim this will be more efficient, but the choice appears more political than practical. Opposition leaders have urged the use of proven channels to ensure rapid delivery. Instead of dismissing the suggestion with partisan jibes, the provincial government would do better to focus squarely on transparent and timely aid. Flood survivors cannot afford to wait while politicians spar over ownership of relief. The deployment of 10,000 employees for surveys and 2,213 teams in relief operations underscores the seriousness of the challenge. But unless their work translates swiftly into aid delivery, these numbers will not ease public anguish. Equally troubling are the perceptions of misplaced priorities. Residents in Jalalpur Pirwala complain officials rushed to save a motorway while villages drowned. The catastrophic breaches along the Sutlej embankments have submerged entire settlements. Those forced to wade through waist-deep water to bury their dead do not see much evidence of the “example” of relief that the provincial leadership claims to have set.

Our leaders must realise that the politicisation of relief is as damaging as the floods themselves. Punjab’s rulers want to showcase independence, while opponents tout rival mechanisms. Neither contest feeds hungry families on the roadside. Nor does it restore the livelihoods of farmers whose fields have been washed away. What victims need is speedy, genuine relief. If tools are available, they should be used; if new ones are created, they must work seamlessly. Either way, delivery must trump politics and compassion outweigh point-scoring. Climate change ensures such disasters will recur with greater intensity. Punjab’s ruling party must prove its sincerity not by deriding opponents, but by getting aid into people’s hands — and soon.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2025