Displaced due to floods, sisters spend days in tent amid winter

For the past nearly two months, Manjit Kaur and her sister Raj Kaur, whose twin houses fell to the raging waters of the Beas, have been spending days in a tent shack in the middle of fields at Baupur amid winter season. Four months after the Sultanpur Lodhi floods, the sisters and their families are yet to find a house. The bare, skeletal shack is their only dwelling.

Nights are spent at the village sarpanch's home where he has spared space for destitute families. The tent, too, is on sarpanch Gurmeet Singh's land.

Like the sisters, the families of Hardev Singh and Bakhtaur, too, have been living at their relative's houses or sewadar's homes. Hardev continues to spend nights at village gurdwara.

Manjit, Raj and their husbands are daily wage earners. The floods have even robbed the kids of education. For the past 10 months, Manjit's daughter Manpreet has dropped out of school. The family didn't seek re-admission after her Class X exams. Her 7-year-old son Lovepreet is also a school drop-out.

Manjit Kaur says, "Ghar hi hai nahi, baccheyan nu kiddan parhavange. (We have no home, how will we ensure kids' education.) We have nothing left. Our houses are damaged and six acres of collective land is under water. Some of the belongings have been kept at home of Sarpanch Gurmeet and his brother Paramjit. Water has also damaged most fields hence our husband's daily wage work is affected."

Manjit's father-in-law had also died in the 2023 floods when water had suddenly gushed into homes and streets.

Raj Kaur says, "We had just recovered from previous floods when this year's floods upended lives again. Since their father had died, my sons too quit school to pursue daily wage. Floods have robbed kids of their childhood. "

Raj Kaur added, "The district administration promised Rs 1.20 lakh cheques for all of us. While cheques were disbursed, we are yet to receive them."

Hardev says, "My 90-year-old mother is living at someone else's home, I stay sometimes at the gurdwara and sometimes in a shelter."

= No aid from govt

"The district administration promised Rs 1.20 lakh cheques for all of us. While cheques were disbursed, we are yet to receive them. "

Raj Kaur