Awaiting water to recede, displaced people spend days at bundh

Even though peak rescue operations are over and all efforts are now focused on relief, Baupur bundh has become a shelter for the displaced.

Displaced residents gather at the bundh during the day, searching for fodder, food supplies, or perhaps a word of assurance from a visiting dignitary. Locals say that as long as the flood waters remain, the bundh will continue to serve as their daytime refuge."

Many families are staying at the bundh for sucessive days. Reason - houses are flooded or fallen and they can't burden relatives too much.

On a mountain of fodder stacks on a side of the Baupur bundh, sit a number of men – all with sordid tales of displacement. Mohemmedabad’s Kala and Sukhwinder Kaur, Akalpur’s Sewa Singh and Rampur Gaura’s Balkaur Singh, all lost houses and have no place to call house. Bawa Singh from Bandu Jadid has a waterlogged house.

Balkaur and his son take turns sitting on the bundh.

As per rough estimates, 12 houses have fallen in Kapurthala.

As per the state’s flood data, 145 villages and 5,728 people have been affected by the floods, whereas crop on over 44,000 acres has been damaged.

Hundreds of displaced residents — whose homes remain submerged or have suffered structural damage — share a common plight. With their dwellings rendered unlivable or waterlogged, many face the grim reality of being unable to return for months. Places like Ber Sahib Gurdwara and Dera Bidhi Chand in Sultanpur Lodhi, along with the Lakh Warian relief camp, have become temporary shelters for affected families and their livestock from flood-hit villages."

Kala Singh from Mohemmedabad, who lost his home, says, "There is no dwelling left, nor any source of income. We are in such a state, so where will we take our cattle"

His five member family, including his mother, wife, two children, make do at a relative’s place. Years ago, during floods, his brother also lost his life. Now he has lost his home.

“I had just one acre land, that too is lost. " He had two cattle, which he had to abandon as, "there is no place to go for us, where will we take them? We have lost everything,” he said.

Sewa Singh (50) from Akalpur says, “My house fell 7-8 days ago and I spend my days at the bundh for supplies and fodder. At night, we six people sleep at various relatives’ places. I have lost 9-10 acres of land. This time water was more than 2023 and even 1988 floods. Our house fell earlier too. It takes lakhs to build a new house. My children are at Gharka and adult members of our family at different villages.”

Balkaur Singh and Gurnishan from Rampur Gaura have the river flowing now, where their house earlier was. It will take Rs 20 lakh for the family to build a new one. Sukhwinder Kaur from Mohammedabad also lives at Lakh Warian with her son after their home collapsed.