Chandigarh, Oct 24: In the flood-ravaged months of August and September, more than 5,300 acres of land across 15 districts of Punjab were washed away as swollen rivers changed course and breached embankments. Government statistics show a total of 5,307 acres became unrecognisable after the deluge, the result of frantic water flows in the Ravi River, Beas River and the Sutlej River, the latter downstream of Harike.
The northern city of Amritsar was the hardest hit, with 1,515 acres lost. Other major losses were in Ferozepur (1,101 acres), Gurdaspur (544 acres), Nawanshahr (539 acres) and Kapurthala (376 acres). Additional losses occurred in Ludhiana, Fazilka, Mohali, Pathankot and Jalandhar. Lesser but still significant erosion took place in Tarn Taran, Patiala, Hoshiarpur and Moga.
Much of the land was privately owned. Revenue officials say that over decades, as rivers meandered — sometimes shifting up to 100 ft in a decade — exposed riverbeds were surrounded, allotted and developed. In Tarn Taran, for instance, tracts of village lands are now within what was once the bed of the Beas between Bhalojala and Harike, and of the Sutlej between Harike and Muthianwala. The land’s relatively low cost and past tolerance of flood risk attracted buyers. But the recent spate swept away those bets.
Officials suggest illegal mining in riverbeds, long contested between the state and the Centre, contributed to the destabilisation of banks and embankments. In private, revenue officials say that mining in the riverbeds accelerated erosion and eventually the loss of land during the floods.
Under norms for assistance from the State Disaster Response Fund, each affected owner is eligible for compensation of ₹19,000 per acre (or ₹47,000 per hectare). But farmers like Major Singh of Bamial village in Pathankot say that the policy fails to account for the long-term impact. “My eight acres on the Ujh were washed away,” he noted. “I won’t be able to cultivate this land for three to four years even after the floodwaters recede.”
With this event being unprecedented in scale — “in the past four decades, never have such huge portions of land been washed away,” Anurag Verma, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), admitted — the government says it will begin the compensation process soon, after finalising assessments.
