Sangli

Krishna

(Left) The Royal Krishna Boat Club team stepped in to help rescue the people of Sangli; all boats were made available to help those stranded in water

National Disaster Response Force

Sangli SP Suhail Sharma helps Boat Club teams in rescue aid

After the floodwater began to recede, the Boat Club team began focusing on collecting the equipment they had misplaced during rescue operations

Members of a local boating club used skiffs, canoes and even kayaks to rescue 15,000 people from the floods inIn the first week of August, when the rains unleashed their fury on western Maharashtra and the rivers began to swell past the danger levels, the floods spurred a string of heroic acts in Sangli. Among those who stepped forward to pitch in with rescue operations, were members of The RoyalBoat Club, known for its rowing and kayaking prowess. They ended up helping to save more than 15,000 people.As the water levels started rising in Sangli on August 3, and there was no sign of help or relief from the government, members of the club decided to take matters into their own hands. “They conducted a recce and started evacuating people by themselves,” Suhail Sharma, SP of Sangli, tells Mirror. “The next two days were the worst. The club gathered their younger members and teamed up with locals to go out looking for people.”The rivers Krishna and Warana have their confluence at Sangli. In Haripur, the basin of the Krishna expands to its widest. In 2005, too, Sangli had experienced floods, but this year, going by local estimates, the deluge has crossed all limits. The Army and Navy were able to reach Sangli only six days later, on August 9.The club, which has 50 members (mostly from middle class, rural households), found itself severely underequipped to the task of rescue. The members began by using 20 of their boats, not only to rescue people, but also to distribute food packets, medicines and guide rescue officials towards the stranded. These unsung heroes worked for 12 days straight to ensure that Sangli saw no casualties, despite the floods.“When we saw that the water levels were rising, we called all our students to pitch in,” says Dutta Patil, a coach at the club for more than 16 years. “Since they knew the city well and could reach people faster, things worked out. Later, we divided them into smaller teams and managed to rescue many more before the officials arrived. Some of us even had to swim through the floodwaters because there weren’t enough boats.”The small sports boat, used for kayaking, ended up being more useful during the operations as the big boats of thehad trouble negotiating the narrow, waterlogged alleys. “We helped the team understand the lay of the city so that some people — primarily women, children and senior citizens — were rescued first,” says Amol Bolas, coach of the club. “We ended up using wooden boats, machine boats and even kayaks and banana boats, which are usually reserved just for water sports.”One face in the rescue operations was 19-year-old Pooja Fadol, who has represented India in boating competitions and won a medal at an event held in China. She was the only woman in the rescue team, and managed to ferry pregnant women and children to safety in her kayak. “I was helping the team rescue people and also carry food and medicines to them,” says Fadol, who hails from Nashik, but has been staying in Sangli for the last three years to master the sport. “At times, I got down from the boat and had to push it, since there were so many people to help, and such little time.”Situated on the banks of the Krishna, the Royal Krishna Boat Club was started in 1971 by Pratap Jamadar, a professional rower and from a family of boat builders. He is also credited with popularising the sport in western Maharashtra and making it accessible to the local people. “Initially, the boats would be imported to India from South Korea and Germany, but he experimented with wood and tin and came up with a ‘desi’ version of them,” says Patil, 42. “Our contemporaries have all trained under Jamadar. Now, many children of farmers come to learn kayaking here, and go on to represent India in international competitions.” The club conducts training sessions twice daily.Pratik Jambha, 24, a student of the club who led one of the rescue teams, says he is proud to have saved about 5,000 people who were stuck in their homes. “I am happy that my boating skills came in handy during the crisis,” he adds. “Though we lost some expensive equipment, we feel a great satisfaction about the lives that we could save.”A fortnight on, Sangli is still waking up to the havoc the flood has wreaked, given 70 per cent of the city was submerged in water for five days. With water levels having receded, leaving swathes of slush, the city wears a forlorn look. Sadly, the club members’ rescue efforts have gone largely unnoticed by the local media. The members are not affected by this snub; they are now focusing on rebuilding their own homes and lives.