Wading Through Waist-Deep Waters In Punjab, It's Generosity, Kindness That Float

(MENAFN- IANS) Chandigarh, Sep 3 (IANS) Wading through waist-deep flood waters of southwestern monsoon, scores of humanitarian and youth organisations riding on boats and tractors are daily reaching out to communities, largely rural, in at least 19 affected districts of Punjab to provide food, clean water, medication, hygiene kits and shelter items to thousands of people, largely the elderly, braving incessant rains.

As a team of global charity Khalsa Aid International reached a farm marooned in seven-eight feet of water in Dera Baba Nanak village in Gurdaspur to deliver food and essential aid to a family, an elderly woman was in tears, saying,“After four days you came to us as God”.

She and her husband have been spending nights on the top floor of the house without food, water and medicines.

Her family managed to get away from the rising flood waters in time, leaving the elderly couple behind along with the livestock.

When the Khalsa Aid team told the elderly woman and her husband that they had come to rescue them, she refused to go, saying,“We are staying here to take care of livestock. We have to live and die here.”

Despite all odds, the couple is trying to stay positive that they will be able to repair their home and regrow their crops.

Like the elderly couple, thousands of farmer families have lost their rice paddies, which were ready to harvest, and washed away the rice, wheat and grains that they had stored in their houses.

“We also lost six buffaloes,” remarked another farmer Avtar Singh, who is devastated by losses, including many personal belongings and is struggling to rebuild his life.

As Punjab is facing its worst floods in four decades, it's a sea of humanity where several social organisations in coordination with the Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and also local authorities have been at the forefront to provide Guru's 'langar' (free meal) and shelter.

Punjab Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Hardeep Mundian said the state is facing one of the most widespread floods in recent decades, which impacted 23 districts, claiming 30 human lives and leaving more than 3.54 lakh people affected.

According to the AAP minister, 1,400 villages have been inundated. The severely affected districts are Gurdaspur (324 villages), Amritsar (135), Hoshiarpur (119), Kapurthala (115), Mansa (108), Ferozepur (93), Pathankot (82), Fazilka (72), Jalandhar (62) and Tarn Taran (66 villages).

The AAP government has declared Punjab a disaster-hit state. Torrential rains and subsequent release of water from three crucial dams -- the Bhakra, Ranjit Sagar and Pong – to reduce abnormal rising water levels have significantly hit the floodplains of Punjab, impacting 148,590 hectares of farmland.

Crops like wheat and rice suffered extensive damage. Eco warrior 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 been on the ground even in the remotest village for over three weeks.

Before dawn, riding on self-acquired motor boats the AAP's Rajya Sabha MP, Sant Seechewal, and his team of volunteers, donning protective gear, reach villages dotted in the Mand region of Sultanpur Lodhi, severely impacted by the swollen Beas river, to provide food to the families trapped in waist-deep water.

Every day, Sant Seechewal and his volunteers cover a radius of 32 km in 10 hours in Mand, an island on the Beas river, reaching every house.

Sant Seechewal, who was accompanied by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in relief work on Tuesday, told IANS that 30 per cent of inhabitants in the Mand area have moved to safer places -- either in relief camps or with their relatives.

“Villagers who stayed back now need medicines, drinking water, tarpaulins, mosquito nets and basic supplies and we are providing them. We have enough piled-up relief stock to support them,” Padma Shri Seechewal said.

“If someone genuinely wants to help the people in crisis, they should wait for 15-20 days for the water to recede from villages. After that the people will start returning to their native places and start repairing house and desilt fields. That is the time when they look forward to generous support,” he explained.

He said their organisation would also start repairing river embankments and desilting the river.

“At that time they need earth-moving machine and other materials for the embankment reinforcement work. Those who want to voluntarily help the people in distress, save your energy and sympathy for the future initiatives,” he added.

Wearing his trademark maroon robes, Sant Seechewal is heard asking his volunteers to give more relief material to the children and the elderly. He is also seen feeding the abandoned cattle stranded in the flooded paddy fields and dogs in houses.

He and his volunteers also played a key role in relocating families along with their livestock to safety.

Sant Seechewal himself fills sand in bags, carrying and dumping them at the river breach sites. Volunteers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), considered a mini-Parliament of Sikh religious affairs, are also moving from village to village to provide temporary shelters and holding community kitchens around-the-clock for the marooned villagers.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal has allocateed Rs 20 lakh to procure water tankers for providing safe drinking water to displaced people. His office said the MP anticipated that once the flood water recedes, the affected people may face shortage of clean drinking water as tubewells and other sources of water have been damaged.

Posting a video of the devastation, ace spinner-turned-AAP Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh wrote on X on Wednesday,“When volunteers went to deliver relief materials, the flood-affected family despite having lost almost everything prepared tea and served it to the volunteers in return. That's the spirit of Punjab. Rab de bande.”

The video has gone viral on social media, drawing admiration and respect. Yet amid this devastation, the Punjabi spirit of resilience and seamless generosity shines by cooking 'langars' in flood waters, distributing essentials to every household and setting up medical camps for the sick and injured.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at ...)

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