Punjab’s farmers struggle to reclaim flood-hit land amid ‘official apathy’

Naseeb Singh, 28, a farmer on 17 acres of land in a village near Gurdaspur’s Dera Baba Nanak town, encountered a strange problem when he inspected his farm after the recent floods; Almost two acres of his field turned into a floodwater-filled sinkhole and the rest was covered with silt.

Standing next to a broken embankment in farmland near the India-Pakistan border, Mr Naseeb said: “ tape (The levee) broke during the night and the force with which the water gushed out created this pit about 30-40 feet deep. The rest of my field was covered with more than five meters of silt. “We’ve been working to clear this up for the last two weeks.”

It estimates farmer losses at over ₹ 50 lakh. “I have no idea how I will repay my loans of Rs 10 lakh,” he said.

In August and September, Punjab faced one of the worst floods in recent years; It has affected more than 20 lakh people in 2,614 villages and displaced 6.87 lakh people.

Farmers in many villages near the Ravi river in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts of northwestern Punjab have shared similar stories of destruction of farmland and crop losses following complaints of indifference from the Central and State governments.

According to Punjab government data, around 2 lakh hectares of agricultural land was flooded; this amounts to less than 5% of the total area cultivated during the kharif season.

Last month, the State government announced compensation of ₹10,000-₹20,000 per acre, depending on the extent of damage. However, the aid has not been released yet.

When contacted, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party said the compensation announced by the Punjab government was “unparalleled”. “For the first time, we have fixed a 45-day window within which we will complete the girdawari (inspection) and ensure that every affected person receives the compensation cheque,” a statement issued by the party said.

Volunteers’ help

Most affected farmers Hindu He said that they were exposed to losses of up to lakhs of rupees and expressed their concern about the increase in interest rates on their existing loans.

Many said they would likely miss the rabbinic planting season in November because of the extensive work needed to restore their land, made more difficult by money and labor shortages.

Mr. Naseeb said dozens of volunteers, mostly farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, worked tirelessly and unpaid with him in his field, where two tractors and a bulldozer were working to clear silt and fill the hole. “I wouldn’t have achieved anything without them. The government hasn’t done anything for us yet,” he said.

Two of his friends help 36-year-old Malki Singh to clear mud from the field in Hoshiarpur. “When we got here there was six to eight feet of silt on the land. We’ve been working here for about a week.”

He added that he, along with others, had done the following:seva (voluntary work)” has been carried out in various flood-affected villages in the region for the last one and a half months.

Amrik Singh, a 45-year-old father of three, said his entire cauliflower crop, spread over 4 acres of land, was washed away in the flood. “I lost around ₹14 lakh during the disaster. I had taken a loan of ₹1 lakh from a bank and a loan of ₹50,000 from a bank aartiya (intermediary) for the costs of planting the crop. “Now I am thinking of selling one or two of my three buffalos to repay at least part of my loan,” he said.

“Kuch madad milega (Will I get some help), he asked at the end of the conversation.

Amritsar’s Ghonewala village has been experiencing multiple incidents of floods, with embankments along farmland overflowing and causing fields to be covered with silt. While some fields are still completely flooded with floodwater, in others paddy remains but crops have been affected.

Surjeet Singh, 47, stands next to his 1-acre field, most of which has turned into a deep hole due to the breach. “Only in our village tape It was broken in approximately 10 different regions. “A similar situation is happening in every village close to the river in this belt,” he said.

In the village, several gurdwara committees are helping rebuild broken embankments even as affected farmers wait for government aid.

increasing debt

Nishand Singh, 40, stands next to his nine-acre field, part of which is still submerged, while the rest contains paddy crops. “There’s very little grain in the standing crops. I’ll have to plow it back into the ground. There’s no point in wasting money on harvesting.”

The farmer said he took a loan of ₹7 lakh from a bank, but the ₹2.5 lakh he got from a middleman would hurt him more as the annual interest rate was 24%.

“The State and Central government have done nothing so far. The formal mechanism is completely absent. No compensation has been given yet. Only one announcement has been made, which is very little,” said Baljit Singh Grewal, general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (Punjab unit).

Mr Grewal said the government should immediately distribute compensation in cash as farmers were in serious distress.

“While farmer unions and the public are coming forward to repair the broken embankments, the authorities are nowhere to be seen,” he said.

Flood waters have receded from fields in Pathankot’s Paharipur village, but farmers say existing crops look good only from a distance.

It was published – 11 October 2025 03:33 IST