In Panchayati Raj, Gram Panchayats are the main axis of the rural areas. The role of Panchayats in the all-round development of the villages cannot be ignored. Be it development issues or times of crisis, Panchayats play their role in a most impartial way. In the month of August, some areas of Madhya Pradesh faced the challenge of floods due to excessive rainfall.
During this period, the promptness with which the relief and rehabilitation works were carried out by the Gram Panchayats to restore normalcy at the Panchayat level became an example in the works done so far. The Panchayat and Rural Development Department worked on a war footing from the state level to the panchayat. As a result, immediate relief and rescue operations were carried out in thousands of villages in about a dozen districts and a large number of flood-affected families could be rehabilitated.
There was heavy damage due to severe floods in about a dozen districts of the state in early August. Maximum damage was caused by floods in Shivpuri, Sheopur, Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Datia, Ashoknagar, Guna and Vidisha districts. The extent of devastation was such that a large number of roads, bridges, houses collapsed, crops were destroyed, cattle were swept away. Common roads were clogged. Lakhs of people were rendered homeless due to the loss of household items and houses collapsed.
During heavy rains, the administration was faced with the difficult challenge of contacting people trapped in the floods, rescuing them and taking them to the relief camps. Roads and bridges collapsed, roads and fields were flooded with water. Due to the fast flow of water in the rivers, it was not possible to reach the villages on foot and even by boats. Due to uprooted power lines, connectivity got disrupted in villages as mobiles got discharged due to power supply shutdown. In such a situation, it was neither possible to reach the flood affected villages, nor was communication possible through mobile phones.
Lakhs of families became helpless in this disaster. At such a time, the state government made all-Round efforts to help the flood affected people and brought them out safely. Along with the state government, the Panchayats also played an important role in the rescue and relief operations while fulfilling their responsibilities.
Under such adverse conditions, the Panchayat level staff started relief and rescue work on humanitarian grounds rather than considering it their official responsibility. Panchayat secretaries, Rozgar Sahayaks, self-help group members tried to reach the flood affected with the help of other departments, public representatives and villagers.
In the whole process, the sensitive behavior and empathy of the Panchayat personnel was a great solace to the people and gave them the way to overcome the utter despair of devastation.