100% crop damage in Jalandhar, Kapurthala districts, say farmers

60,000 acres inundated in Jalandhar 
26,000 acres inundated in Kapurthala 
60,000 farmers affected by floods

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 24

With the farmers being primarily at the receiving end due to the Sutlej floods, which have ravaged over 50 villages in the district, they are now planning to conduct their own parallel survey of the affected fields after the water recedes.

Estimating losses of over 70,000 acres of paddy in Jalandhar alone, farmers are now demanding Rs 40,000 per acre as ‘girdawari’ for crop loss. They claim that the damage was estimated to be 100 %.

The district administrations, however, estimated the damage to crops over 86,000 acres (60,000 acres in Jalandhar and 26,000 acres in Kapurthala).

While water is taking the longest to recede in Shahkot villages (Lohian), this area alone has over 25,000 acres of submerged paddy fields. Substantial damages took place at Phillaur and Gidderpindi.

Of over 1 lakh people hit by the floods in Jalandhar, 60% belong to the farming community. With the exact damage to be clear only after the water recedes, farmers’ bodies have already started visiting the flood-hit areas.

Kuldip Singh, a farmer of Janian Chahal village, said, “It took ages for farmers affected by the 1988 floods to recover from losses. There are some who couldn’t revive. We have spent considerably on the paddy crop and now all of it is gone. Our homes and fields are totally submerged. Most of the farmers are already debt-ridden and the floods have further burdened them. We are expecting relief of at leastRs 40,000 per acre.”

State president of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Satnam Singh Pannu also visited Janian Chahal village to assess the damage. He said, “Over 60,000 farmers are hit. We demand Rs 40,000 per care as damages from the government. An estimated crop over 70,000 acres in Jalandhar is affected. Farmers’ houses, fields and livestock all have suffered. We shall independently assess the damage too.”

Meanwhile, Jalandhar DC Varinder Kumar Sharma said, “Damage to crop on about 60,000 acres is estimated. However, the compensation will be as per the losses incurred. In Phillaur, crops died in a day while Lohian has been submerged for six days. The losses are different and compensation will be awarded after a detailed assessment.”

Kapurthala DC DPS Kharbanda, however, said, “About 26,000 acres has been damaged after 20,000 villages were marooned here. The losses to crops are estimated to be 100 per cent. However, damage assessment shall also be done.”