Sidiq Khan
Punjab is living through its darkest monsoon in nearly forty years. Floods, described by officials as the worst since 1988, have swallowed homes, fields, and futures across 12 districts. At least 29 people are dead, lakhs displaced, and relief remains a distant promise.
Triggered by relentless rain in the upper reaches of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers have burst their banks. What began as heavy showers in the hills has cascaded into a disaster that has drowned one of India’s most fertile states.
Faces Behind the Numbers
Every figure hides a story of loss. Pathankot alone has seen six lives cut short by the raging Ravi. In Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Mansa, Rupnagar, and Barnala, three families each mourn sudden deaths. Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Patiala, Mohali, and Sangrur have all reported victims.
The deaths are not just from drowning. People were electrocuted inside flooded homes, walls collapsed without warning, and villagers were swept away by currents too strong to fight.
In Pathankot, three people are still missing. Families sit on rooftops, staring at the river, refusing to believe they may never return. “We don’t want statistics. We want our sons back,” cried a mother in Mirthal village.
In Kapurthala’s Baupur village, residents waded through waist-deep water on Monday for food packets. A farmer clutching a sack of rice said, “We lost our fields, our homes. Now we are losing hope.”
The Scale of Devastation
According to the state’s flood bulletin, 2.56 lakh people across 1,044 villages are directly affected. Gurdaspur alone accounts for 1.45 lakh victims spread over 321 villages.
In Amritsar, 35,000 people in 88 villages are marooned. Ferozepur has 24,015 affected across 76 villages. Fazilka counts 21,562 in 72 villages, Pathankot 15,053 in 82 villages. Even Kapurthala, rarely hit this badly, has 5,650 people struggling across 115 villages.
Officials admit the numbers will rise as many villages remain cut off. In some areas, boats are the only connection with the outside world.
A Blow to the Breadbasket
Punjab, the granary of India, has taken a crushing economic hit. Nearly 2.32 lakh acres of farmland now lie under water.
Amritsar tops the list with 56,834 acres ruined. Mansa follows with 42,020 acres, Kapurthala 36,902 acres, Tarn Taran 29,363 acres, Ferozepur 27,754 acres, Hoshiarpur 14,754 acres, and Pathankot 6,034 acres.
In Gurdaspur, the damage remains unmeasured, as fields are still submerged.
For farmers, the disaster is personal. “Our paddy is gone, our cattle are gone. Who will pay our loans now?” asked Gurmeet Singh from Mansa, staring at his drowned field. “The flood did not just take crops. It took our future.”
Relief That Feels Distant
The government says 15,688 people have been evacuated, and 7,144 are staying in 129 relief camps. SDRF teams, 20 units of NDRF, 10 Army columns, and 35 helicopters are working on rescue and supply drops.
Yet, the scale of destruction dwarfs the effort. Villagers complain of food packets dropped without coordination. In several camps, families share a single mat. Toilets are scarce. “We are safe from the water but not from hunger and disease,” said Rukhsana, a mother of three in Fazilka.
The director of land records in Jalandhar, who oversees flood control, admits infrastructure recovery will take months. Broken roads, breached embankments, and collapsed bridges will slow relief further.
Waiting for Help That Never Comes
What hurts survivors most is silence from the state and central governments. Despite daily reports of losses, no relief package has been announced. Farmers say they cannot rebuild without immediate compensation.
“Rescue is important. But what about tomorrow? What about rebuilding?” asked Harinder Kaur, a schoolteacher in Fazilka, now living in a camp. “We cannot survive on food packets forever.”
Observers warn that without a financial package, recovery will be painfully slow. For small farmers already crushed by debt, the floods could push them over the edge.
Haunted by 1988
Elders recall the floods of 1988, when rivers swallowed villages and crops alike. “It feels like history repeating itself,” said an 80-year-old resident of Tarn Taran. “We thought we had moved forward, but nothing has changed.”
The comparison stings. Four decades later, Punjab still lacks effective flood preparedness. The 2025 floods have not just drowned fields, they have drowned trust in governance.
The Road Ahead
As waters recede, the reality is stark. Crops gone. Homes flattened. Families surviving in camps. Relief uncertain.
Yet, amidst despair, Punjab’s resilience shines. Villagers share rations with neighbors. Farmers, even while mourning losses, speak of sowing again. Rescue workers push through exhaustion to save lives.
But hope alone cannot rebuild Punjab. Without urgent financial relief, without long-term flood management, the 2025 disaster will be remembered not only as a natural calamity but also as a failure of leadership.
“The river took everything from us,” said Baldev Singh, a farmer in Kapurthala, his voice breaking. “Now it is up to the government to give us back our will to live.”
