In an ironic turn of events where a saviour needed saving, an MP minister had to be airlifted after getting stuck during rescue mission. The incident came in the light when Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra was taking a stock of the devastation caused by the floods which has affected regions near Datia district. It so happened that Mishra was stranded on the boat while he was trying to rescue the flood affected.
Details
MP State Home Minister Narottam Mishra had to be rescued by the Indian Air Force chopper when he was stranded during his visit to Datia district which is currently reeling under heavy floods. Mr. Mishra is a MLA from the same region and was making a visit to take the review of the situation. But how did Mishra get stranded and what happened when he needed rescuing, let’s untangle the matter.
Mr. Mishra was visiting one devastated village near Datia district called the Kotra. On August 4 Mr. Mishra was on the receiving end of the fury and fright of mother nature himself. According to reports, the state home minister received details about some citizens stranded on the roof of a home in the flood-marooned village.
Also Read: MP Floods: Over 1200 Villages Affected, 1,600 People Rescued; Army and Air Force in Action
Home Minister Reaches Stranded Civilians by Boat
Taking note of the detail, Mr. Mishra reached at the above-mentioned place on a SDRF (State Disaster Relief Force) boat. He was accompanied by some relief workers himself and managed to reach the place despite heavy flooding and strong winds.
Tree Falls, Motor Breaks, Narottam Mishra Stranded
Before the home minister could start bringing the stranded people to the boat and rescue them, somehow a tree fell on the boat and broke the motor. As the motor was broken, it didn’t budge and failed to start despite multiple attempts.
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IAF Chopper Deployed, Minister Airlifted
After his boat was stuck, Mr. Mishra called up authorities and asked officials for help. Soon, an Indian Air Force chopper was deployed which rushed to the spot. The minister along with the stranded villagers were then rescued. Meanwhile, there are video footages on the internet where Mr. Mishra can be seen making sure that first the civilians were rescued and then he allowed himself to be airlifted by the chopper.
Watch Video Here
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister @drnarottammisra was airlifted during flood relief and rescue operation at Datia. He had gone to meet the people who had been stranded pic.twitter.com/NbfwtkiPdU
— Neelam Pandey (@NPDay) August 4, 2021
“Home Minister acted like Spiderman”: Congress’ Criticism
While the act can be considered a brave one, opposition party Congress came out and called the incident a “publicity stunt gone wrong”. Congress leader Bhupendra Gupta was quoted by NDTV saying-
“The way our home minister tried to act like Spiderman was dangerous for himself, the stranded people and those who had gone with him.”
The Madhya Pradesh Flood Situation
Along with several northern-most region of India, Madhya Pradesh too has been witnessing severe flooding due to the ongoing monsoon season. In the past few days more than 1,250 people have been reported being affected by the flooding. As many as over 6,000 people have already been evacuated by the relief workers and reports claim that 2,000 people are still missing in the different region of the state.
The regions that have witnessed the most devastation has been the Gwalior-Chambal belt. The districts and villages that have witnessed the flooding are located around Sheopur and Shivpuri. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already labelled the situation ‘grim’ and claimed that joint efforts of Army, Air Force and other relief forces are seeing that the search and rescue operation continues.
“Four columns of the Army, BSF, NDRF teams, and 70 teams of the SDRF have been deployed for the rescue work. More teams of the NDRF are coming…five helicopters of the Air Force, including four in Gwalior and one in Shivpuri, have also been pressed into the rescue operations,”
-he was quoted saying.
