Vijay Garg
Punjab are currently suffering a horrific flood tragedy, where the villages have been submerged, the houses have been ruined and the fields are flooded with sand instead of the crop. This crisis will not only be limited to water landing, but will further deepen problems in the future.
At this time, more than three lakh acres of cropped land has been damaged due to the boom in rivers and streams in Punjab, endowed with farming and livestock. The highest bearing has been on paddy, maize, vegetables and other kharif crops. Homes, roads and shops in border-engaged Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Fazilka, Kapurthala and nearby villages have drowned in water. As of now more than about 2.56 lakh people have been displaced.
A large amount of relief material is required due to heavy devastation in flood-hit Punjab. Food is being arranged, but there is a huge shortage of clean drinking water because water treatment plants are closed and drinking dirty water is a risk of cholera spreading. Everyday millions of bottles of water, no electricity filters, big RO, inverter, battery, candles, matchsticks and small generators are urgently needed as it will take a long time to restore power. Also need phenyl, chlorine powder, mosquito killing medicines and cream urgently to stop the pandemic.
The biggest challenge will be to dispose of water, mud, debris, and dead animals from flooded areas after the rain is exhausted. It urgently needs big pump, jcb, dumper, fuel, cleaning equipment and protective accessories. So much machinery is not available immediately near the government mechanism, so the people of the society should visit such equipment to the state government, so that rehabilitation work can be done faster and effectively.
Relief works should not overlook the personal needs of the common people suffering as well as large arrangements. Patients like diabetes, bloodpressure, thyroid need regular medicines, which have been destroyed in floods. Disorganized people are growing from mental stress and limited relief facilities. In such a situation, things like medicines, drinking water, dettol, phenyl, chlorin tablets, infection and fever medicines, glucose, celine are urgently required. Things like old clothes or grains will not be useful at the moment
The affluent people will have to go ahead and contribute to reconstruction—like sending building materials like cement, iron for remote villages. About two and a half lakh people have become completely homeless, market-vehicles have been devastated. In such a situation, quick and correct settlement of insurance claims can be a big relief. But the state machinery itself is busy in recourse, so the need for educated volunteers who can properly assess the losses, pressurize insurance companies for payment and benefit the government’s schemes to the affected
After the flood there will be the biggest hurdle in bringing life back to track again, the process of getting government relief, because the money will come to the accounts of those who have an Aadhaar card. Those whose everything got flooded don’t even have identity cards left. In such a situation, it will be meaningless to meet the relief amount late. In this situation, a large number of volunteers are needed, who can sit in distant cities and take out documents like the basis of influencers online and reach them, so that they can get help on time. The need for education will come out when things improve, but by then more than two lakh children’s schools, buses, books everything must have been flooded. In such a situation, if every house is sent basta, books, stationery, tiffin boxes and water bottle for one child as festivals gifts, then it will help in grooming the future of Punjab. Reprinting of textbooks, arranging furniture and blackboard, and safe foods like biscuit and dry fruits are also urgently needed for the nutrition of children. This requires institutional and personal efforts locally.
It is only a loss of time and resource if not helped as needed. Till date no guidelines were made on what kind of immediate and long term cooperation is required in the event of disaster. In times of such crisis a true citizen is the one who stands with his distressed countrymen. |
