Punjab flood: Thousands spend night on rooftops; await relief material

Chandigarh: Thousands of people in Punjab spent the night on rooftops after the breaking of embankments of tributaries and overflowing of swollen rivers caused by incessant rain and the release of dam waters, which have also damaged newly planted paddy crops in large areas, officials said on Thursday.

Families who have been trapped on the rooftops of their houses are awaiting rescue and relief material from the administration. They also need fodder for the cattle, rue locals. Most of the worst-affected districts, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Pathankot, are located along the India-Pakistan border.

The other districts marooned by floodwater are Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ropar, Anandpur Sahib and Fazilka, impacting families who have lost homes, farmers lost crops, and people, largely villagers, are suffering greatly.

Even several Border Security Force (BSF) check posts on the international border were either washed away or damaged in the flood.

Flood rescue operations involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Army and the district administration have been intensified, an official told IANS on Thursday.

Affected villagers blamed the district administrations for their lack of preparedness ahead of the monsoon season.

In a display of valour and coordination, BSF troops in Ferozepur carried out flood rescue operations in scores of villages, saving distressed locals from the rising Sutlej waters. Also, the BSF rescue team responded swiftly on Wednesday when floodwater entered the nearby Army camp.

Acting on an urgent call from Army personnel, the BSF rescue team rushed to the site and safely evacuated six Army personnel along with weapons and special equipment.

“BSF’s prompt action not only protected lives but also ensured critical military assets were secured in this crisis situation,” said the BSF in a post on X.

The Indian Air Force has been carrying out extensive relief and rescue missions in Punjab. IAF helicopters evacuated 46 stranded civilians as flooding intensified in Pathankot. Further, over 750 kg of essential relief material was air-dropped to support local communities.

In the Dera Baba Nanak area in Gurdaspur district, 38 Army personnel and 10 BSF personnel were rescued by winching them up a high-stakes operation by the IAF.

Three floodgates of the Madhopur headworks near Pathankot broke owing to gushing water.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has asked all Cabinet Ministers, MLAs and officers to stay in their respective areas and reach out to the needy people in this hour of grave crisis.

Eco warrior and Member of Parliament Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, who came into the global limelight after reviving the almost dead 160-km-long Kali Bein, a rivulet sacred to the Sikhs, has reached up to flood-affected people in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts.

He, along with his volunteers, has been moving in boats from house to house to provide relief material to the affected people.

Sant Seechewal’s volunteers are also helping the local administration in plugging the breaches and in rescuing people. More than 400 villages, mainly in Ropar, Anandpur Sahib, Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts, have been badly hit by the swollen Satluj River.

In Amritsar, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney, Senior Superintendent of Police Maninder Singh, along with legislator Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, have been engaged in helping the people day and night. Till late Wednesday night, administrative teams evacuated people from their homes and took them to safe places.

“Officers and MLAs themselves are getting into the water and taking people to safe places by seating them on tractors,” a government spokesperson told IANS, adding the Army has deployed N1200 ATOR all-terrain four-wheel drive vehicles in Amritsar for the rescue operation.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab women wing President Amandeep Kaur Arora, who is a legislator from Moga, told IANS that they, in coordination with the government’s medical and welfare departments, are ensuring support in the form of ration, personal hygiene essentials and medical services for women and children in flood-affected villages.

“No kitchen will be left without food, no woman will face a lack of personal hygiene products, and no patient will remain without medical care. From the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, our Cabinet Ministers, MLAs, to every volunteer, all AAP wings are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the flood-hit people,” she said.

She said several districts, including Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Fazilka, Ferozepur and Tarn Taran, have been severely affected due to heavy rainfall.

She announced that the women’s wing is setting up medical camps in collaboration with the Health and Women’s Welfare Departments. These camps will provide treatment and medicines under the supervision of a team of specialists, including gynaecologists, dermatologists, eye specialists and general physicians.

She also said in the relief camps, even deliveries have been successfully conducted, ensuring women and infants received proper medical care.

The AAP also released a flood helpline number — 0181-2240064 00 for people who need assistance but are unable to directly reach the relief teams.

IANS