Patiala, July 25
With the onset of monsoon, it is time for Jagir Kaur’s family at Lacchru village to shift to the first floor of their house, fearing the floodwaters of the raging Ghaggar. The kitchen has to be moved as spillover from the swollen river gushes in. This year has been the worst, Jagir says, adding that her family had to be rescued on boats, leaving behind cattle and furniture.
Land prices remain low
“Land in some villages near the Ghaggar is still priced around Rs 20 lakh an acre, the same price it fetched 15 years ago. There are still no takers for the land,” said a politician who himself suffered crop damage in over 30-acre land in Ghanaur.
Residents living near the Ghaggar say monsoon floods are a biennial, if not an annual, event here. “This river is a curse for us. Apart from hitting us with floodwater, it leads to the spread of diseases and causes deaths of cattle,” a villager said.
The damage caused by the river has also led to a major social disruption. Villagers in the Ghaggar catchment areas say they find it difficult to get a match for their boys as no one is willing to marry their daughters in villages where floods are a constant threat.
“My brother owned 15 acres of land, but it took a lot of efforts to get him married as people are reluctant to send their daughters to our village, which is the first to be affected by monsoon floods. Eventually, we had to marry him to a girl from another flood-hit village of Hassanpur Mangta,” said Kulwinder Singh, a resident.
“Given a choice, we would want to be reborn anywhere away from this river of grief. Our paddy crop was washed away within hours this year and there is no chance to re-sow paddy saplings as the silt brought by floodwater is still in my fields,” said Mahinder Singh of Ghanaur.
An expert from the Irrigation Department said with time, the spread of the river has shrunk due to illegal encroachments and widespread digging. Land prices are low and illegal mining in Ghanaur has only added to the misery of residents living near as the river bank, he added.