50-ft crater levelled, wheat sowing begins in mand

In the mand region of Baupur, where devastating floods once caused massive destruction, farmers are now gradually returning to normal life. On the night between 10 and 11 August, the temporary embankment of the Beas near village Bhaini Kadar Bakhsh had breached. This severe flood had washed away the entire ready-to-harvest paddy crop of farmers. on the land of three brothers, a crater of more than 50 feet deep had formed in three acres.

To fill this huge crater, over 100 tractors operated daily under the leadership of Rajya Sabha member Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal. It took 10 days to fill it up and nearly ₹70 lakh worth of diesel was consumed.

Seechewal shared that farmers from three villages of Sirsa had arrived with 16 tractors under the leadership of Baba Jaswinder Singh and Baba Jeet Singh. They served for 15 days and had brought diesel along with them.

Today, Seechewal sowed wheat in the field. Driving the tractor himself, he sowed wheat in the fields of farmer Inderjeet Singh. This land lies close to the embankment where the breach had occurred earlier. Along with this, tractors are levelling 30–35 other fields and wheat sowing will be carried out there in the coming days.

Farmer Jasbir Singh said thanks to the efforts of Seechewal, wheat has already been sown in more than 150 acres. He added that during the floods, not only crops and homes were destroyed, but hopes were also shattered. Yet, Seechewal kept the farmers motivated and supported them emotionally. Farmers expressed their gratitude to him, whose efforts have helped the region get back on track.

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Box : Diesel still needed in Baupur Mand

Rajya Sabha member Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal said the work on levelling the flood-affected fields and sowing wheat is still ongoing. Many areas continue to undergo levelling. Some farmers also need to sow fodder for their livestock. More wheat sowing remains to be done.

He expressed gratitude to NRIs, who provided immense help during the floods. Although more than four months have passed since the disaster, many farmers are still waiting for the sand to be completely removed from their fields.