Farmer Mohan Singh was getting ready to reap the kharif crops on his area this week. He was elated; it had been an important season. So image his devastation when he walked out onto his area three days in the past, and noticed that the inexperienced had been changed by steadily rising water. Mohan belongs to Gurdaspur in Punjab, which is inundated by the waters flooding the state. The relentless heavy rains are compounded by the dangerously excessive ranges of the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers.
Punjab is drowning. It wants your assist.
Donate to assist Punjab flood victims
Farmer Mohan, like the three,54,000 folks (as of 5 September) affected, didn’t have time to grieve. His solely precedence was making certain that his household made it out of the home alive. However there was no escape; the one choice was to attend and pray.
After which, they noticed a ship making its option to them. In it was Harmeet Singh, who leads CSR (Company Social Duty) at Punjab-based NGO Kalgidhar Belief, one of many many conducting aid and rescue operations on the bottom supported by Donatekart.
There was no risk of salvaging the home or any of the farmer’s belongings, remembers Harmeet. However as they journeyed on the boat to the aid camp in Gurdaspur, Mohan broke down, “My fields are gone. I do know I may not be capable of sow something for one more yr till the soil turns into fertile once more and the mud is eliminated. What am I going to do?”
Harmeet didn’t have the solutions. He admits that, regardless of having performed aid and rescue operations for the final twenty years, they’re daunted by the size of the calamity — these are being known as the worst floods that the town has skilled since 1988. As of two:30 PM on 5 September 2025, the dying toll stands at 43, with 1,48,000 hectares of agricultural land submerged below water and with it, hundreds of desires. Punjab is the seat of India’s agrarian financial system, and a calamity of this scale will ripple into results which can be felt throughout the nation.
Commercial
Whereas it’s going to take time to carry the state of affairs below management, The Higher India is becoming a member of arms with Donatekart to assist. And you’ll be part of us too, by donating to this fundraiser.
Assist the folks of Punjab: What are you able to do?
Click on on this hyperlink to donate to the fundraiser.
Your donations will likely be directed in direction of procuring aid kits and boats.
Every aid equipment will comprise objects like bedsheets, blankets, mosquito nets, ready-to-eat objects, ORS powder, garments, and foldable beds.
It is very important word that whereas the NGO companions on the bottom will likely be distributing the aid kits, the funds will likely be straight channelled in direction of procuring the required materials and won’t be directed to NGOs themselves.
Your cash is straight serving to a flood sufferer. Your donations will go in direction of:
Commercial
1) airlifting the boats to the websites of rescue operations and
2) procuring aid materials in order that households may be helped as soon as they’re shifted to the aid centres.
Faculties & gurudwaras flip into aid camps
Elaborating on the need of boats throughout this time, Harmeet shares that these are of paramount significance within the Fazilka space of Punjab. “That is the place the rivers meet, and so the impression of the flood is rather a lot. The water has elevated to a excessive degree right here.” Boats are the one type of conveyance proper now throughout the districts of Punjab: Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Ferozepur, Amritsar, and Fazilka.
Throughout Punjab, gurudwaras, colleges, and different public establishments have been become aid camps. The Kalgidhar Belief runs 100+ colleges, and these too have been remodeled into centres the place individuals are being sheltered till the state of affairs eases.
It’s heartwarming to see the boundaries of faith blur as folks of all faiths come collectively to distribute the fabric. “We see volunteers of all faiths who’ve been working day and evening to assist out,” Harmeet shares. He tells the story of an aged man whom they just lately rescued. “He had misplaced all the things within the flood water, however quickly after he was on the boat with us, he requested for a life jacket and stated, ‘I’ll come and assist your group rescue others who’re caught.’”
The federal government has taken cognisance of the size of the catastrophe and deployed the NDRF, SDRF, Military, Air Drive, BSF, and police. Evacuations and meals drops are being supported by helicopters. There have been 438 fast response groups, 360 cell medical items, and 172 ambulances dispatched statewide. Boats are being deployed in distant areas like Gurdaspur to achieve remoted populations, together with pregnant girls.
Commercial
‘My home is flooded, however I have to provide you with one thing to eat’
One of many solely issues that has stored Harmeet and his group, and the quite a few different groups supported by Donatekart, going throughout this time has been the resilience they’ve seen among the many folks. “Whereas performing the rescues, after we go to their properties, that are utterly flooded, they nonetheless say, “My kitchen is flooded, however can I give you some milk? You have got come to my home, and I ought to provide you with one thing.”
He tells one other story of a rescue the place a bit woman started crying as she, alongside along with her household, was taken away to the aid camp within the rescue boat. She watched her home, the one which her father had taken a mortgage for and put his life financial savings into constructing, crumble to items, washed away brick by brick. “However her father consoled her, ‘Homes may be rebuilt. Not less than we’re alive.’”
These tales reveal the unbreakable spirit of the folks, Harmeet factors out.
However it’s going to take an excessive amount of time for the farmers to tide by means of the losses. “Their animals are drowning and dying; that is resulting in a rise in infections. We’ve got our docs throughout medical centres and aid camps, however the variety of circumstances of waterborne ailments, pores and skin infections, and ailments brought on by mosquito bites is on the rise.”
As for the size of the losses, he says they are going to solely be capable of assess this as soon as the flood waters ebb. Nevertheless, the misery will proceed for farmers like Mohan who should not have a house to return to. It isn’t simply the current that retains him up at evening, however the unsure future.
However your donation may help carry consolation in the present day and energy tomorrow — for Mohan, and for numerous others like him.
Commercial
All footage courtesy Donatekart
