Flood-hit Punjab shifts the burden onto farmers
Throughout the crisis, the state government was barely present — the people have largely been left to cope on their own
Punjab’s crops may have been washed away by floods, but politics has dug in. As the water slowly recedes from villages and farmlands, volunteers who provided relief are also preparing to leave. Throughout the crisis, the state government was barely present — and little has changed since. The people have largely been left to cope on their own.
Going back home is proving difficult for many families, as hundreds of roads are damaged, some rendered completely unusable. Those who have managed to get back, find their homes reduced to rubble. Even where structures are still standing, making them liveable is a struggle. The stench of stagnant water and rot is likely to linger for weeks. Adding to their misery is the threat of waterborne diseases, with early reports of outbreaks already surfacing.
The fields present the gravest problem. Large stretches of farmland remain submerged, the kharif crop is already lost and prospects of sowing the rabi crop are uncertain.
Initially, the state government announced compensation of Rs 6,800 per acre for the damage, later revising it to Rs 20,000 peracre just before PM Modi’s visit — perhaps in an attempt to highlight Punjab’s financial burden before the Centre. Farmer organisations remain deeply dissatisfied — they say the relief falls far short of actual losses. Their demands range from Rs 50,000–70,000 per acre.
Compounding the crisis, Punjab — like other non-BJP ruled states — has not implemented the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). This means farmers have no safety net in the form of crop insurance.
According to state government, the process of assessing the losses (girdawari) has begun. Only after this exercise is completed will relief payments be disbursed. But people know from experience that such procedures can drag on for months — and even then, there is no certainty that compensation will actually reach them.
With less than a year-and-a-half to go before Assembly elections, flood-hit Punjab has become fertile ground for political posturing. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has repeatedly accused the Central government of denying Punjab the relief funds it urgently needs. The BJP has lashed back.
Senior leader Sunil Jakhar argues that before seeking more aid, the state must explain what happened to the Rs 12,000 crore it has already received from the Centre for disaster relief. He alleges that the funds never reached the people and were siphoned off instead.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has accused the prime minister of playing politics on the issue of a relief package, claiming the Centre is more interested in exposing the AAP government than in helping flood victims. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann has appealed to all MLAs and MPs to use their local area development funds for relief. The Tribune reports that the Congress has already mobilised its senior leadership, and activated workers across parliamentary seats to help pool resources.
Amid all the political sparring, some people believe that with elections approaching, the pressure of public opinion might finally compel the government to deliver timely relief to those who need it most.
Sand ‘mining’ permitted
The receding floods have left vast stretches of Punjab’s farmland buried under layers of sand. Lacking resources to manage the clearing of silt spread across thousands of acres, the Punjab government has introduced a scheme that quickly drew applause for being ‘innovative’.
In a cabinet meeting held on 8 September, chief minister Bhagwant Mann — who joined the discussion via teleconference from a Mohali hospital where he was undergoing treatment — approved the programme ‘Jis da khet, usdi ret (your field, your sand)'. The scheme effectively hands over the responsibility to farmers themselves by allowing them to sell the sand without a mining department permit, at least until 31 December.
Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia called it a farmer-friendly decision. But experts and critics pointed out that the government had simply found a way to offload its obligation without committing significant funds.
Where the water has drained and the soil has dried, farmers are discovering that it isn’t just sand left behind — it is mixed with pebbles, stones and debris carried by the floodwaters. This makes the material far less valuable.
Normally, a truckload of sand fetches around Rs 15,000, but the sand dug out of these fields is selling for no more than Rs 2,000 a truckload. Farmers say that the effort required to extract it is more than what they earn, making the benefits negligible.
There is another looming concern: if every farmer starts extracting sand simultaneously, the market could easily become saturated. In that case, buyers will disappear, leaving farmers stuck with huge piles of sand and the question of how to dispose of it.