People Need Urgent Relief from Unprecedented Flood Fury
Inderjit Singh
THE unrelenting fury of flash floods in northern and north western states has resulted in a devastating toll on lives, livestock, and livelihoods. Standing crops such as paddy, maize, sugarcane, vegetables, horticulture, orchards, and fodder, have been lost across lakhs of acres. The catastrophe has also led to the loss of cattle, sheep, goats, and poultry, all swept away by the floods. Official reports indicate that Haryana alone has witnessed over 6 lakh acres of inundated land.
So far in Haryana and Punjab it was not the excessive rainfall as such but water of flash floods arrived from the rivers emanating from the Himalayas of neighbouring Himachal. The situation is compounded by the looming fear of further incessant rains in regions already affected, particularly in these two states, which could exacerbate the hardships faced by people and hinder efforts towards normalcy and recovery.
Curiously indeed, Haryana is experiencing a unique situation with both flood and drought-like conditions occurring almost simultaneously in equal proportions. In Punjab, nearly 10 districts, including Patiala and Kharar, were severely impacted, with residential areas in Patiala city being badly flooded.
The aftermath of these floods resulted in unprecedented destruction of public and private properties, causing immense devastation to infrastructure such as roads, railways, and electricity lines, highways, buildings, bridges, schools, and hospitals.
While people in all the affected states have been victims of the floods' fury, the situation in Himachal Pradesh is particularly dire. The region has been hit hardest by ongoing flash floods, triggered by heavy rains leading to landslides, cloud bursts, soil erosion, and breaches in rivers, drains, and canal systems. The ferocious flooding swept away human lives, livestock, homes, hotels, as well as hundreds of cars, trucks, and buses. As a result, 134 individuals have lost their lives in Himachal, with many more reported missing and yet to be accounted for.
Cattle rearing farmers and agricultural workers have suffered immense losses, with their costly buffaloes, cattle, goats, sheep, and poultry being swept away by the flash floods. The scenes of huge buildings collapsing and vanishing within seconds, resembling toys in the gushing waters, have been both terrifying and heart-rending, as seen on media. Shockingly, some of these vehicles had drivers and passengers inside, while others were parked when swept away. Many people are reported missing, and although some bodies have been recovered, chances of survival are minimal for the remaining.
Other regions affected so far include parts of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, the monsoon fury has inundated many areas of Assam, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, as heavy downpours have escalated in various parts of the country. Tragically, several lives were lost in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The extent of damage is visibly apparent in the affected areas, but the true magnitude of the losses caused by floods can only be assessed once the situation improves. These destructive floods cannot be attributed solely to natural causes but are also a result of the ruinous developmental trajectory that has been followed for decades. The blame is often placed on the people for playing with nature. But this is absolutely misleading and propagated to conceal the real culprit, which is the insatiable greed of profit-seeking multi-millionaires dominating the tourism industry in the hill states. The people living in the forests and hills have had an intimate symbiotic relationship with nature, and both have flourished on this basis. However, catastrophe emerges when this bond is disrupted in pursuit of corporate profits.
However, this is a subject that warrants a separate examination - how the ruling classes' corporate-driven, profit-oriented development trajectory has unfolded. An anarchic tourism strategy allowed the unchecked proliferation of hotels and resorts dangerously close to riverbanks, particularly in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The maintenance and desilting of canals, riverbeds, bridges, and culverts, as well as the removal of weeds, have been long ignored and neglected. And the widespread construction of highways, considered a success story, has, in fact, become a major obstacle to the natural flow of water.
The negligence in cleaning and maintaining riverbeds, drains, and canals has led to the accumulation of water weeds, blocking the movement of waters through these crucial channels. Such preparations are essential under flood control orders in anticipation of the monsoons, with dedicated funds earmarked for this purpose. However, these funds get eaten by corrupt acts; and it becomes difficult to audit the misappropriation of funds, as corruption also gets washed away with the floods.
Meanwhile, there are serious concerns about the outbreak of epidemics, particularly due to the non-availability of clean drinking water and other epidemiological factors once the floods recede. Reports of malaria, dengue, and diarrhoea outbreaks are emerging from areas affected by the receding floods.
In view of the gravity of the situation, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has issued a statement urging the union government to declare the floods a national calamity. They have requested the government to provide financial assistance packages to all affected states to compensate for the losses suffered in terms of lives, livestock, homes, crops, and other assets. While some state governments have made announcements regarding compensation, they have not yet extended a helping hand at the moment when the affected people need it the most. As a result, the government administration seems absent, leaving the people to fend for themselves during this difficult time. However, amidst the challenges, the community has shown resilience and resourcefulness in tackling the floods. Local efforts have been crucial in preventing the waters from entering villages by constructing barriers at entry points using sandbags and maintaining round-the-clock vigilance. Additionally, the community has worked together to minimise the impact of the floods by plugging breaches in rivers, nullahs, drains, and canals.
A team of AIKS office bearers, including Inderjit Singh, Sumit Singh, Preet Singh, Jagtar Singh, Vishnu, Rajender Batoo, and Yogender, visited flood-affected areas in different parts. On July 23, they visited Fatehabad, where 125 villages have been affected. On July 25, another team comprising Inderjit Singh, Sumit, Jagtar Singh, Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria, Surjit Singh, and Hamjinder Singh visited affected villages in Sirsa. The people they met expressed dissatisfaction with the administration, stating that they were not adequately warned about the impending flood fury, and felt that the administration did little to save them from the floods.
The activists of Jind district AIKS, led by state president Master Balbir and finance secretary Dimpal, deserve appreciation for their timely and voluntary efforts in providing much-needed assistance to the flood-affected people. They collected essential supplies, including milk, food items, and other necessities, from unaffected villages in Haryana and sent them to the flood-affected villages in neighbouring Punjab. Other AIKS district units also visited the affected areas in their respective regions.
In Haryana alone, around 1500 villages in 12 out of 22 districts were affected, with even more villages affected in Punjab. However, the government has only offered assurances and has not provided significant relief assistance anywhere.
Special mention must be made of the unique form of free fodder langars and paddy nursery (Paneeri) langars, which have been set up to cater to urgent needs. The destroyed paddy crops can be replanted with the help of paddy nursery. Farmers from unaffected regions have raised paddy nurseries on their fields and have made them available, free of cost, to needy farmers in the flood-affected areas. Additionally, farmers from rural areas have come to the aid of inundated urban areas, like Patiala city, by supplying essential commodities, including cooked food (prasada). This exemplifies the spirit of community support, which was a crucial aspect of the successful 13-month farmers' movement and continues as a spontaneous gesture during the flood crisis.
Landless households in the villages face even greater hardships during such situations, as their houses are often situated on the periphery and are the first to be submerged. In this context, launching MNREGA on a larger scale can be an immediate relief measure to mitigate the suffering of the disadvantaged sections and provide some minimum earnings for survival.
AIKS has demanded that the ongoing floods be declared a national calamity, and financial packages be given to states to compensate for damaged crops, houses, tube wells, etc. They have also requested financial assistance for families who have lost members and livestock. Outstanding loans should be waived off, and there should be exemptions on power bills and provision of subsidised inputs for re-sowing crops once the water recedes.
AIKS reiterates its unwavering solidarity with the affected people and commends the commendable voluntary services being provided to them. It has urged the affected communities to assess their losses and raise these issues before the concerned administrative authorities.
