Punjab recently faced and is still fighting with what is being called as the worst flood in the region in 30 years. According to the news on the channel NDTV, the ministry of home affairs sent an inter-ministerial central team to eleven flood-hit districts excluding Punjab.
The Cheif Minister of the state appealed for funds from the central government by claiming the event was a national calamity. Now, a central team is set to go to Punjab to analyse and control the situation.
The state’s ministry has blamed the Bhakra Bias management board claiming that the reason for the flood is them releasing excessive water in the Sutlej river. This can possibly be the main reason as there has been no rain in the area from the last seven days.
The Cheif Minister of Punjab, Mr. Amarinder Singh has claimed one thousand crore rupees after declaring the event as a national calamity. He also stated that even if the fund doesn’t arrive, he will still make sure that the rescue operation is carried out properly.
The central government has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to assess the situation of the State of Punjab. Still, the situation remains the same in many villages. In my opinion, the government seems to be a little slow in reacting to this crisis. While some are waiting for the government to rescue them, a brave woman took matters into her own hands to rescue her family.
Sarabjit Kaur, a 35-year-old woman travelled a distance of 120 Kms to rescue her family from the floods. She travelled from Firozpur to her home in a village in Jalandhar district. The woman had to purchase a private boat worth twenty-four thousand rupees in order to rescue her family. Sarabjit has set an example with her bravery and has taught us all a very important life-lesson.
Sarabjit told NDTV that her whole family, including the children, were stuck in their house in the village and nobody came to their rescue for many days. The fact that she had to spend twenty-four thousand rupees on a boat to make the rescue herself is saddening. This shows that you have to help yourself when there’s no one else to help you or everyone refuses to help.
‘Help Yourself’ is a phrase that many of us use, but only a few (very few) actually follow the saying. We all must take inspiration from this brave woman and must always be ready to handle the biggest troubles in our lives ourselves. Sarabjit’s bravery didn’t only help her own family, it even opened the gate of opportunity for the whole flood-hit area by setting an example.
Her bravery and the will to do anything to rescue her family are something that the government should also learn from. In fact, the brave action might have just escalated the process. Well, whether it did or not, we learned a very important life-lesson from Sarabjit’s bravery ‘when everyone else refuses to help, you have to stand up for yourself’.