People heave sigh of relief as rain takes pause in Amritsar

After days of relentless downpour that battered the region, people finally breathed a sigh of relief as the skies remained clear in the last 24 hours. For flood-hit villages in Ajnala, Ramdas and surrounding areas, the pause in rainfall has brought a ray of hope to people in distress.

The absence of rain has not only mitigated the fear of further waterlogging but has also made it possible for officials to carry out a girdawari (assessment of crop loss). Until now, continuous rainfall had stalled the process, leaving farmers anxious about compensation for their damaged fields. With the water level beginning to recede and roads becoming more and more accessible, teams are expected to visit affected villages soon to document the scale of destruction of standing crops.

According to officials, thousands of hectares of standing crops, including paddy and fodder, have been submerged. Many farmers have lost nearly the entire season’s produce. “Every passing day was adding to our worries. With rain taking the much-needed pause, now government officials can see the damage with their own eyes and help us recover,” said Gurcharan Singh, a farmer from Ajnala.

Flood relief work, too, had been suffering setbacks due to the weather. Rescue teams and health workers were finding it difficult to reach certain pockets where floodwaters had cut-off road access. The break in continuous rainfall has helped in speedy distribution of food packets, medicines and drinking water to affected people.

Officials from the Health Department said medical camps will continue to function round the clock to check the spread of water-borne diseases, which remain a major concern in the aftermath of flooding.

Even as the skies have cleared, the administration has urged people to remain alert. The Meteorological Department has not ruled out fresh spells in the coming days, though they added that the worst appears to be over. For now, clear weather conditions have kindled a ray of hope among people, besides giving farmers, families and officials the much-needed time to plan ahead and start relief operations on a war footing.