Lacklustre Diwali for Sultanpur Lodhi villagers

For hundreds of Sultanpur Lodhi villagers, this Diwali will lack its lustre. Left homeless by the havoc wreaked by the overflowing Beas, the flood-hit people are still busy piecing together their lives.

The floods had marooned over 100 Sultanpur Lohi villages, including Rampur Gaura, Baupur, Sangra and Mohemmadabad in the low-lying Mand area, which was the worst-hit.

The raging river decimated nine of 12 houses in thinly-populated Rampur Gaura. Diwali will mark two months of the villagers’ displacement.

The only silver lining is the decent help pouring in from do-gooders as seven families have been allocated sites for houses elsewhere.

Gurnishan Singh, whose pregnant wife had moved to safety as their house collapsed, sums up the mood.

“One can’t celebrate Diwali at others’ home,” he said.

Gurnishan, along with his wife and two daughters, is putting up at a house in Nabipur village while his parents and another brother are living at Saruwal in homes temporarily donated by Good Samaritans.

Gurnishan said, “A new home is coming up at Passan Kadim but it will take time to complete. Our source of income had gone after the standing crop on nine acres was washed away by floodwaters.”

The families said they were yet to receive the Rs 1.20 lakh compensation promised by the state government for damaged homes.

Paramjit Singh, a villager at the helm of relief work, said “At Rampur Gaura, another home is on the brink of a collapse. Relentless efforts have been insufficient to plug the breach due to the river flow.”