3 months on, 500 acres still submerged; farmers helpless

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, October 8

When the procurement has picked up pace in the state and mandis are thronged by farmers, growers in Lohian are in distress and are waiting for their fields to get dry as, shockingly, 500 acres are still submerged. The deluge had hit the area on July 10. Three months later, hundreds of acres of fields are filled with flood waters.

Most of the farmers belong to Mundi Cholian, Dhakka Basti, Mundi Shehrian, etc. They have nothing to sell as their crop has been damaged by floods.

Future Uncertain

We had already lost paddy crop in the floods. Now, we are not sure if we will be able to sow the next crop as upto 3 feet of water is still standing in our fields. This is a bad time for us and our future is uncertain. —Gulwinder Singh, Farmer

Farmer Gulwinder Singh from Dhakka Basti, the worst affected village, claimed that there was water up to 3 feet standing in his fields. “We already lost our paddy crop. Now, we are unsure if we will be able to sow the next crop. It is a bad time for us,” he said.

While mandis in other areas are experiencing brisk paddy arrival and sale, mandis in Lohian are devoid of activities. Only 50 quintals of paddy arrive in Nahl Mandi till October 7. In the same way, Gidderpindi, Turna, and Kang Khurd mandis are also experiencing the same situation. Less arrival is being recorded there.

Arhtiyas said those who had resown their crops would get their produce to mandis in the coming days. “We hope that the paddy that was resown will give farmers good times,” an arhtiya from Lohian said.