IAS Women Brigade on the frontline in managing the flood relief efforts in Punjab
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ September 2,2025
Punjab is facing one of the worst floods after a gap of 4 decades and first in the twenty first century.
Punjab’s Majha, Doaba areas are worst affected by these floods including parts of Malwa districts.
Punjab’s worst floods in nearly 4 decades has affected 1400 villages as they are submerged, 30 lost their lives, 1.50 lakh hectares damaged, hundreds of animals dead, infrastructure loss is not measurable.
In this hour of crises, out of 23, 9 women bureaucrats are managing the districts as Deputy Commissioners, working round the clock, managing the situation from the front evacuating villages, setting up relief camps, etc with some of their women subordinates working as ADCs, SDMs, civil surgeons, irrigation engineers etc. along with male staff.Also they along with their male counterparts acted with urgency and courage.
All Deputy Commissioners, SDMs, Police Chiefs be it women or men waded into the water themselves to rescue and reassure the people.
In the flood prone areas, Deputy Commissioners of Ferozepur district, Deepshikha Sharma along with Fazilka’s Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu, Hoshiapur’s Aashika Jain, Amritsar’s Sakhsi Swahney are controlling the flood situation with full responsibility.
Though in some parts of Malwa, the flood has entered in few villages situated along the seasonal rivulets, there too, the women Deputy Commissioners are managing the situation and are alert, instructing the concerned officials to get ready with their plans in case of any emergency. Patiala’s Preeti Yadav, SAS Nagar’s Komal Mittal, Mansa’s Navjot Kaur, Fatehgarh sahib’s Sona Thind are ensuring that critical resources like boats, life jackets, sandbags, and manpower are readily available to meet any flood-related situation.
Poonamdeep Kaur is heading Faridkot, that is the only district where flood has not affected any village.
These women officers timely reacted, coordinated the rescue operations, mobilised villagers, tractors, sandbags, and earthmovers where needed and instructing the irrigation department to strengthen the week bunds, managing flood control rooms, deploying resources like boats and life jackets, overseeing the evacuation of stranded villagers. They are a source of inspiration for the youth of today to pursue selfless service.
