Problem of Plenty: Excess & Haphazard Relief Supplies

As flood relief efforts intensify across Panjab, a new challenge has emerged—oversupply of aid in several affected areas. Relief materials are arriving in abundance, prompting appeals from volunteers and organizations to pause further deliveries and focus on coordination. Farmers and donors from across Panjab, states such as Haryana, Rajasthan, and regions like Western Uttar Pradesh, Mewat and Tarai—areas active during Farmers Protest 1.0 (2020-21)—are bringing supplies to flood-hit villages. However, ground reports indicate that cooked food and dry rations are now in surplus, with some distribution efforts even leading to disputes. Recognizing the need for better planning, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and volunteers have begun coordinating efforts to streamline aid. Panjabi social media platforms are actively urging donors to verify local needs before sending supplies. Many are also advocating holding back resources to support rehabilitation once floodwaters recede. Dal Khalsa working president Paramjit Singh Mand, who has been active in Ajnala, issued a public appeal calling for organized relief efforts, among many others.The pro-farmer platform Tractor2Twitter urged the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to establish warehouses across Panjab to store incoming supplies. Along with a dozen other groups, the Alliance of Sikh Organizations has established a central base camp at Baggewala village in Ferozepur to store and distribute supplies as needed. Farmers’ unions and farmers in flood-hit Panjab have appealed to philanthropists, NGOs, celebrities, and people from all walks of life to hold further supplies temporarily, and instead help them with long-term rehabilitation. Sarwan Singh Pandher, Coordinator, Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, said he was grateful for the overwhelming response but stressed, ‘Now that water has started receding, the real requirement will come afterwards. Farmers will need much more support once the fields are accessible again. We humbly request NGOs and donors to return after a few days, when water recedes fully to provide meaningful help.’