For several days, farmers in the Indian Punjab state watched a decrease in seasonal winds and rivers rise with the fears of installation. By Wednesday, many woke up to find that their fears were fulfilled because the worst floods in more than three decades destroyed their farms and dried their livelihoods.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of bright green rice fields – are scheduled to be harvested in a dramatic way – as well as cotton crops and sugar cane have been destroyed because they are fully submerged in more than five feet of muddy brown flood water. The bodies of the sunken cattle are scattered on the ground.
“The crops are destroyed, and even our homes are in the danger of collapse,” said Parmelit Singh, 52, a pre -farmer in Amritsar Province. Punjab. His family, including his elderly mother and two young children, now lived on the roof of their house to stay safe from mysterious flood water.
He said: “My entire livelihood depends on the seven hectares of agricultural lands, which were all destroyed by the flood water.” It is despair that his only remaining option is to sell his land and give up agriculture. “I have already invested most of my money in the seeds and fertilizers for the previous crop. Now everything is over.”
While the seasonal wind season usually brings heavy rains, the maximum levels of rain that fell across northern India this week caused countless damage to Punjab, which led to flash floods and rivers of swelling that penetrate its banks and overflowing in the fields and villages. Until now, 43 people have lost their lives and nearly 2000 villages were affected in the state, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity and reaching clean water. The smell of rotting animal bodies hangs over many villages.
“This is the worst time for Punjab ever.
“I have not seen such destruction in my life. The entire agricultural lands are submerged underwater, and they are now coated with mud and sand.”
Farmers in India have already faced increasing difficulties, as millions were installed with high debts, low income and large crop losses in the face of extremist and unexpected weather conditions caused by the climate crisis.
Benke was among those who accused the government of the Garata Jatata ruling (BJP), led by Narindra Modi, of neglecting the farmers and abandoning their fate during the strong monsoon winds for this year.
“The government was aware of the weather forecast and should have put appropriate measures and emergency responses in place,” he said. “But this never happened, and this failure has destroyed such a huge range.”
Sorerender Singh, 75, is echoed by Sarala Callan Village in Batulaa. For several days, he had seen the channel near their village rising and higher, but was unable to stop it.
He said: “The government will make promises of comfort, but farmers will end up receiving anything.” “In the end, we left to care for ourselves.” Like many, he wondered about the feasibility of Indian agriculture in the long run, which employs half of the country’s workforce and keeps food on the country’s tables.
“I cannot imagine what remains for our future generations,” he said. “Floods and harsh weather events have become more frequent, and the future does not seem better. If farmers are in Punjab – the food pot in India – they cannot even feed themselves, how will they feed others?”
This crisis was not alone in India. Through the border, in the heavy agricultural province of Pakistan, also called Punjab, the damage caused by the floods was more disastrous, as nearly two million people and about 4000 villages drowned in flood water were evacuated.
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The two countries participate in many major rivers and the decision of the Indian government to launch water from many severely full dams, which led to more floods on both sides of the border in the geographical area of Punjab, which prompted Pakistani officials to try to blame India for the disaster.
This was the anger of the developed Ravi River, which is passing through the border of India to Pakistan, on Friday, slipped 30 km from the iron fencing that constitutes the very military borders between the conflicting neighborhoods, and forced the soldiers of the security force in India to abandon dozens of their very sensitive posts.
Maraiab Ali Gundal, a farmer from the Mandy Bahdin area in Pakistani Punjab, said the increasing levels of the Chinab River, which also flows from India, has washed 90 acres of its crops, including organs and sugar cane, causing millions of rupees.
Jandal said he spent the previous months of begging for local officials to build dams along the river, which would protect agricultural lands, but nothing was done. “Water erosion has taken all of my ground. There is flood water everywhere now. This is not the mistake of India; it was [Pakistani] “The neglect of the Punjab government, which swept the agricultural lands,” he said.
He added: “This is not my story only – our farms have witnessed the worst time in the country’s history.”
The agricultural lands were not only affected. Residents of Park Park in Lahore in Lahore, a few hundred meters a few hundred meters away, a few hundred meters from Ravi, also with their homes worth millions of millions of water filled with mysterious flood water. Experts said that the removal of forests and rapid development along the waterways was increasing the possibility of floods in the region.
Omar, one of the residents who moved to the development this year, said his house was full of five feet of the river water. He said: “Many of us have invested our life savings in buying or building a dream home here.” “But how can they be allowed to be built if it is at risk of floods?”
Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan Punjab, who is also the daughter of the sister of Pakistani Prime Minister, Shaibaz Sharif, was accused of little to help those affected by the floods. In a post on social media, it highlighted how to install mobile toilets in a relief camp to help the displaced – however, the image that I participated two years ago was revealed.