PHAGWARA: Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Panchal on Monday ordered the closure of 33 government schools in the district for the next two days as a precautionary measure. The decision was taken following reports and recommendations from district education officials, citing concerns over the safety of children. The Public Works Department (PWD) will carry out structural assessments of the school buildings, with a detailed report to be submitted to the Deputy Commissioner through education officers.
In a separate development, six families from Rampur Gore village whose houses collapsed during recent floods received financial assistance from the Punjab government. Chairperson of the Kapurthala Improvement Trust and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) constituency in-charge, Sajan Singh Cheema, handed over cheques of ₹1.20 lakh each, amounting to a total of ₹7.20 lakh.
Cheema said the state government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, has stood firmly with flood-affected families from day one and is committed to their rehabilitation. He added that a special girdawari (damage assessment) will be conducted to compensate farmers for crop losses, while the permission granted to farmers to clear silt and sand from their fields will help reduce their economic burden.
Village sarpanch Gurpreet Singh expressed gratitude to the chief minister and the local administration for extending timely support, noting that this was the first government to immediately deliver aid to affected families despite ongoing hardships.
The event was attended by former Delhi legislator Praveen Kumar, tehsildar Parminder Singh, naib tehsildar Gaurav Bansal, AAP general secretary Jagjit Singh Jackie, PA Lovepreet Singh, and district youth wing president Akashdeep Singh, among others.