The Ravi has changed its course in the wake of the recent floods and washed away 50 acres of fertile land across the barbed fence along the India-Pakistan border in Kakkar and Rania villages of Amritsar district, as farmers watched helplessly.
Blaming the state and Central governments for neglecting farmers owning land along the Indo-Pak border, the affected farmers said the river has taken away their land, which was not only their source of livelihood but also their identity for generations.
Also read: Punjab farmers seek government crop insurance amid floods
The erosion still continues as the floodwaters have not receded completely. Some farmers blamed the unregulated release of water from dams upstream for their woes.
Centre seeks assessment report
While Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said compensation would be provided as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) regulations, which comes to Rs 47,000 per hectare for loss of land and Rs 20,000 per acre for crop loss and additional input subsidy, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha leader Ratan Singh Randhawa said the relief is “too less” and demanded a compensation of Rs 45 lakh per acre for farmers whose land has been washed away.
Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the state government to send an assessment report of the damage caused by floods within three months. The Centre had declared the Punjab floods a disaster of “severe nature” on September 16.
It is yet not clear whether this assessment will result in higher allocation of funds from the Central government. Chief Secretary KAP Sinha is in the process of preparing a detailed assessment report. He had convened a meeting of heads of all departments and deputy commissioners in this regard on Friday.
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