Farmers in the Indian state of Punjab are facing the worst floods in more than three decades, which have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of crops and left many families homeless. The heavy monsoon rains caused rivers to overflow, submerging rice paddies, cotton, and sugar cane fields under more than five feet of water. Drowned cattle litter the landscape, and the stench of rotting carcasses hangs over affected villages.
Parmpreet Singh, a 52-year-old farmer from Ajnala in Amritsar district, said his entire seven-hectare farm has been destroyed. His family, including his elderly mother and two young children, are now living on the roof of their house to escape the floodwaters. 'My entire livelihood depends on my farmland, all of which has been destroyed,' he said, adding that he may have to sell his land and abandon farming.
At least 43 people have died, and nearly 2,000 villages in Punjab have been affected, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity or clean water. Parminder Singh Pinki, a lawmaker from Firozpur district, described it as 'the worst time Punjab has ever faced' and accused the central government of negligence, saying it failed to act on weather forecasts and implement emergency measures.
Surinder Singh, a 75-year-old farmer from Patiala, expressed despair over the future of farming in the region. 'Floods and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and the future does not look any better,' he said. 'If the farmers of Punjab – the food bowl of India – cannot even feed themselves, how will they feed others?'
The flooding has also affected the Pakistani province of Punjab, where nearly 2 million people have been evacuated and about 4,000 villages submerged. The release of water from Indian dams upstream has exacerbated flooding on both sides of the border, leading to tensions between the two countries.
