Heavy rainfall over the past four days has inundated standing crops on around 20,000 acres in Fazilka district. In the absence of any substantial help from the district administration, farmers who have been forced to fend for themselves said clogged drains have aggravated the problem as the administration did not clean them properly beforehand.
The worst-hit is Fazilka subdivision, where standing paddy and cotton crops on 11,700 acres is submerged in knee-deep water. At least 20 villages in the district are affected by flooding.
Deputy Commissioner Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu said the situation would be back to normal in a couple of days as they had deployed staff with motor pumps to flush out excess water from the affected areas. SDO (Drainage) Jagdeep Singh said water had started receding. He said excess rainwater had flowed to low-lying Fazilka subdivision from nearby areas, resulting in flooding.
Farmers said over 500 acres were inundated in Saubana village near the India-Pakistan border. Locals said a breach in a water body three days ago led to the flooding. It is learnt that drains in the area weren’t cleaned before the monsoon. In Shajrana village, standing paddy crop on over 400 acres was damaged due to flooding. Fish farms on about 45 acres were swept away in the flood water of Khui Khera drain.
Crops on around 1,500 acres was damaged in Tahliwala Bodla, Singhpura and Chahlan villages. Farmers of these villages are still waiting for the district administration to come to their rescue. Several farmers blocked the Fazilka-Malout road near Tahliwala Bodla village, demanding immediate action to flush out excess water.
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