Mega warehouse for flood relief inaugurated

In a major step towards flood rehabilitation, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Dr Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who is also the international president of Sun Foundation and World Punjabi Organisation, set up a mega warehouse facility on the Ajnala Road by converting a full-scale resort into a central hub for storage and distribution of relief material.

The state-of-the-art warehouse was formally inaugurated by Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan who underlined the urgent need for community participation in rebuilding lives. He noted that while government efforts were vital, social organisations and NGOs must play a complementary role in accelerating relief and rehabilitation across Punjab.

The facility houses 50 tractors and 10 JCB machines for desilting operations, 200 fogging machines to control disease outbreaks, 1,000 utensil kits, 500 metric tonnes of fodder for livestock, 500 quintals of rice for BPL families as well as folding beds, mattresses, bedsheets, blankets, chairs, gas stoves and medical kits for over 1,000 families.

The material will be distributed in close coordination with the Amritsar district administration through village and household-level mapping to ensure it reaches the most needy and destitute families. Tractors and JCBs will be allocated to the affected villages in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts in coordination with the SDMs and Tehsildars.

In his address, Dr Sahney called upon all stakeholders to unite for the larger humanitarian cause. He cautioned that unless timely measures are taken, Punjab, the wheat basket of India, could face severe threats to the national food supply chain.

Dr Sahney and his NGO, Sun Foundation, was already active in rescue operations by providing motor boats, ambulances, dry rations, medical and hygiene kits, tarpaulins and fodder across flood-affected regions, including Ajnala (Amritsar), Dera Baba Nanak, Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) and Fazilka. The mega warehouse is expected to become a crucial lifeline in the state’s flood recovery efforts.