Beas water all around, residents of Baupur Mand wade through misery

Deepkamal Kaur

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Sultanpur Lodhi, July 25

Cut off from the mainland because of the swollen Beas, nearly a thousand people from Baupur Jadid, Baupur Kadim and Sangra villages of Sultanpur Lodhi say it feels as if they have been held captive with water all around.

An advance embankment constructed by these villagers in the Mand area developed a breach on July 20 after which the Beas water had flown into the fields and damaged paddy on 5,000 acres. The breach is nearly 150 feet wide and not much repair work could be done as water remains high.

Swaran Singh, a resident of Baupur Jadid village, says, “Since our houses are at a very high plinth level, we are safe. But we cannot move out as there is 3-ft-deep water all around on roads which keeps on receding or rising by an inch or two depending on the flow of water from the Beas. It is only the men like me who move around by arranging a boat, going up to the metalled bridge, crossing it on foot and then arranging for a bike ahead to fetch daily need items from the market.”

Sampuran Singh of Sangra village says, “It is our village which has been hit the most this time. There is no way we can plug this breach till the Beas remains in spate and hence we may have to live like this for at least a month.”

Pushpinder Singh, a member of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee from Sultanpur Lodhi, says: “The farmers have suffered a major loss of paddy and there seems no scope for any transplantation for the late crop here. Another major issue is that the medical teams have so far not been able to reach the Mand villages because of accessibility issues.”

Holed up inside houses

We cannot move out as there is 3-foot-deep water all around which keeps on receding or rising. Our women and kids have been holed up inside houses for the past five days. — Swaran Singh, Baupur Jadid resident

Relief on the way

We are looking for ways to provide some relief to the distressed families. I have had some meetings with villagers and some suggestions have been proposed which we shall implement soon. — Rana Inder Singh, Sultanpur Lodhi MLA