Swelling Chitti Bein inundates paddy crop in Cantt's village

Farmers of Kukad Pind village, falling in Jalandhar Cantonment Assembly constituency, are facing a trouble second time since August.

Earlier, they had to wage a long battle against the state government to get the land pooling policy withdrawn as their village land was proposed to be acquired to set up Urban Estate, Phase-3 locality. Now, the farmers of the village are hit yet again as their paddy crop has got submerged in the swollen Chitti Bein.

They said their fields were under four feet deep water. Water from the overflowing Bein has not just flooded the crops, but also some houses, shops, sports club and even government primary school. The farmers said if the water did not recede in a day or two, they could face a total crop loss.

Balvir Singh, a farmer leader from the village, said, "The Bein water had started flowing towards our village on Monday evening. Initially, only some paddy fields were covered. But by this afternoon, the waters covered almost the entire fields. A few houses, situated in the vicinity of the fields, have also been affected. We have not seen such devastation in our village since 1988."

Pritpal Singh, a villager said, "There has been no power in the village since the flooding started. It was today in the afternoon that the supply was restored. We also did not get any water supply without power. To add to our misery, rainwater has started seeping in all houses of the village. Our electric goods, including gensets, inverters and washing machines, have been at risk. Our troubles have been mounting each day".

Another farmer Sukhvir Singh from the village, who is the district president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba) said, "Our village has been in the centre storm for the past nearly 1.5 months. We had to strive hard and combat against the government to get the land pooling policy withdrawn. Now this calamity has added to our misery."

It was in this village that Sukhvir Singh and AAP leader Rajwinder Thiara had entered into a battle as the former had opposed her entry. Post the yesterday's faceoff, Thiara was again spotted in the village along with SDM Randeep Heer and ACP Jalandhar Cantt Babandeep Singh. "No one can stop me from entering the village and offering a helping hand", she pointed out.

Several other villages, including Kangniwal and Diwali, too are facing flooding from the Chitti Bein waters.