Year after floods, Lohian residents struggle to stay afloat

Say compensation for crop damage too little

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 26

A year after massive floods wreaked havoc in their villages, Lohian residents recall the nightmarish experiences they went through during the turbulent times when Sutlej waters washed away their crops, belongings and animals, and damaged their houses.

The residents shared their experiences on how they are trying to start their livelihood once again and slowly recovering the losses they had incurred. They say the compensation of Rs 12,000 per acre that came their way was too little to recover the actual damage.

Tarsem Singh, a resident of Janian Chahal village, said, “Though I got Rs 12,000 compensation for the crop loss on my 1-acre land, nothing came our way for the damaged verandah. There are cracks all over my house and I need Rs 1.5 lakh to repair it. I sought help from various sources, but to no avail. My biggest support was my younger brother Nirmal Singh in Dubai, who was to return this year and help me but he passed away in May this year because of Covid. Now, his wife and children are also dependent on us. Our condition has only gone from bad to worse in the past year.”

Like Tarsem, Manjit Kaur of the same village says she is badly hit after the floods damaged her crops. “I got a compensation for my 1-acre land. Last year, my 17-year-old son started helping me in the fields. I had taken 2 acres on contract. I had paid Rs 45,000 in advance to the land owner but got nothing in return as the entire crop got damaged. I could not avail any compensation for the 2-acre land. This led to mounting of debt which is now close to Rs 1.25 lakh. Thankfully, good Samaritans from Khalsa Aid helped me buy a new buffalo,” she said.

Major Singh, whose house faced the maximum impact as it was located right in front of the breach point in the river, says the horrifying scenes still send jitters up his spine. “When the breach happened, the riverwater came directly towards my house and created a 60-70-ft deep crater in my fields,” he said.

“As many as 50 tractors worked for weeks together to fill up the crater and remove the thick layers of sand that covered my fields. My house had developed cracks all over and I had to spend nearly Rs 2 lakh for its repair. The compensation came only for the crop loss, but that was miniscule as compared to the actual input cost,” he said.