The Army has stationed 20 helicopters in Punjab to evacuate and shift people to safer places from the flood affected areas of the state.Several columns of the Army have been continuing their relief efforts to reach out to people who have been marooned in villages. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has also continued to evacuate people in Dera Baba Nanak sector of Gurdaspur district through helicopters by winching them to safety from rooftops.The IAF has also escalated its flood relief and rescue operations focusing primarily on the severely affected Jammu and Punjab regions.Mi 17 and Chinook helicopters have conducted more than 55 sorties to extract stranded civilians, including personnel from the Indian Army and Border Security Force, from inundated areas in Dera Baba Nanak, Pathankot, and Akhnoor sectors.Transport aircraft (C-130) have been deployed to facilitate rapid movement of specialised NDRF teams into the affected zones.The operations have enabled the rescue of 215 individuals and delivered 7,300 kgs of essential relief material in the affected areas in the past three days.Also Read | Chandigarh receives 35.8 mm rainfall till Friday morningAn IAF spokesperson informed that the current efforts are concentrated in Northern Punjab, where the situation remains most critical due to continuing high water levels which has hampered surface connectivity. Air assets are strategically tasked to maximize coverage and support, he said.Story continues below this adThe relief missions are being executed in close coordination with the Army, BSF, National Disaster Response Force, and local administration to ensure timely evacuation and distribution of supplies.In a related development, with the heavy rainfall in the catchment areas continuing to swell the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Ujh rivers, Punjab Police along with the teams of Army, BSF, NDRF, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Civil Administration have been working in tandem to evacuate 7,689 people to safe places so far.According to Special Director General of Police (Special DGP) Law and Order Arpit Shukla the districts, which are affected by floods, includes Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur.Shukla, who has been supervising the situation in the state, said that Punjab Police has set-up relief camps at flood affected areas wherein food and medicine langars have been organised for people being evacuated, while, cattle fodder is also being provided for bovines. “Drones are being used to trace people for evacuation, and also to deliver food packets and other essential items,” he said.Story continues below this adHe said that SSPs of flood-affected districts have been asked to remain in the field and personally monitor the situation in their respective districts regularly. All the arrangements are in place and SSPs personally monitoring the relief work and people are being shifted to safer places, he said.With Meteorological Department issuing a four-days alert, the Special DGP informed that the Punjab Police has been kept on alert and geared-up to deal with any kind of flood-related exigencies.