Due to unusually heavy rains on 24th and 25th November 1976, low lying areas of Madras city were inundated and a large number of citizens were marooned. On 25th November, 1976 Squadron Leader Shivacharan Singh Tomar of Air Force station Avadi was called upon to assist the civil police in the evacuation of marooned people. In the absence of any other satisfactory arrangement, he used some dinghies as make-shift boats. The extremely limited capacity of dinghies, the difficult conditions due to floods and incessant rains and the handicaps caused by the darkness in the evening did not deter Squadron Leader Tomar from undertaking the rescue operations. He ceaselessly continued the operations throughout day and night on 25th and 26th November 1976 and was able to rescue three hundred and sixty-seven persons.

In these operations, Squadron Leader Shivacharan Singh Tomar displayed great initiative, skill, courage and devotion to duty of a high order.