Farmers seek drainage linked with Kasur nullah to flush out excess rainwater

Crops spread in over 250 acres of land in Soorwind and Bhaini Gurmukh Singh villages has been affected badly in the last one week. The affected farmers said here on Thursday that as their villages are located in a low-lying area, rainwater started entering their fields.

Water has entered their fields that are located in a low-lying area from as many as 10 villages. It has affected the crop, specially paddy which was heading towards maturity. Nambardar Surjit Singh, Pritpal Singh, Sikandar Singh, Gurbaksh Singh, Pargat Singh of Soorwind, former Sarpanch Satnam Singh, Inderjit Singh Granthi of Bhaini and other farmers were among the worst affected.

The affected farmers said that villages nearby like Ghurkwind, Khoja Fatta, Bainka, Lakhna, Bath, Begepur, Bagradi, Ahmedpur and others have also been facing the problem since 1947 and have been approaching representatives of the state government and the local administration repeatedly but failed to get any relief.

The farmers said that they have launched an agitation under the banner of Kirti Kisan Union and submitted memorandums to the administration a number of times but it has done nothing positive. The farmers said that in 2017, they submitted a proposal to dig a drain to be linked with the Kasur drain passing near Kale village to drain out water from these 10 villages as it was affecting their fields. But the plan was not implemented.

The affected farmers said that though their crops have been getting damaged for decades, in fact since the partition in 1947, they have not been given any compensation.

The affected farmers have sought a meeting with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.