When farmers’ golden harvest floated in rainwater, and a boat entered Punjab’s flooded mandi

Hours of downpour since the wee hours of Sunday in the Malwa region of Punjab have left several anaaj mandis inundated, and submerged several tonnes of freshly harvested paddy in 3 to 4-ft-deep water.

Farmers and arthiyas estimate the losses into several crores of rupees, and have demanded compensation from the Punjab government.

Protesting farmers and arthiyas in a boat at Fazilka mandi on Sunday. (Express Photo)

In the worst-affected Fazilka, ripe paddy grains were seen floating in 4-ft rainwater as the mandi was entirely flooded.

The infuriated farmers and arthiyas (commission agents), led by district arthiya association president Sanjeev Sachdeva Goldy, and activists from farm unions such as Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), BKU Dakonda, etc, sat on protest outside the flooded mandi and questioned the AAP-led Punjab government over poor paddy procurement arrangements.

They said neither the Punjab government made any arrangements to store the harvested paddy, nor is there any mechanism to drain rainwater standing in the mandi, leaving their produce submerged.

Standing in knee-deep waters with drenched paddy grains in his hands, Sachdeva said: “For the first time, we had to bring a kishti (boat) to the mandi as all roads around have been submerged. Also, we protested with the boat to make authorities understand how bad the situation is. Farmers’ hard-earned harvest is floating around. We estimate a loss of at least Rs 20 crore in Fazilka alone.”

“The infrastructure at the mandi has not been upgraded since it was constructed in 1971. The government, local MLA and Deputy Commissioner are responsible for what farmers and arthiyas are facing today at the Fazilka mandi.” he said.

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The Centre provides financial backing in the form of RBI-approved Cash Credit Limit (CCL) to procure wheat and paddy harvests in Punjab, but it’s the responsibility of the state government to ensure proper infrastructure at mandis, gunny bags, lifting, storage, and crediting the amounts after purchase.

Similar scenes prevailed at Malout mandi in Sri Muktsar Sahib district.

Balkar Singh, a farmer at the Malout mandi, said, “Water is flowing like a river here. We have been sittinghere for eight days with the harvested paddy. My 600 sacks have been submerged. Will the government compensate now? If grains are destroyed in mandis, who is responsible for it?”

Balkar said local AAP MLA and Cabinet minister Dr Baljit Kaur visited the Malout mandi, but the situation did not improve. “Ministers don’t allow farmers or arthiyas to come close to their cavalcades. When they come to mandis to commence procurement, they don’t see ground realities. Now labourers will dry the grain and refill the bags.”

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He alleged that no official or any authority visited the mandi.

BKU Rajewal’s Fazilka district president Sukhmandar Singh said: “Can the government answer why five feet of water is standing in the mandi today? Heavy losses, to the tiune of crores of rupees, have happened in Malout, Mansa and Fazilka. Why are farmers helpless in Punjab’s greedy system?”

Fazilka Deputy Commissioner Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu said: “The mandi was flooded today as it rained heavily — 12 mm within 2-3 hours. Such a heavy downpour was unexpected. The mandi is spread over 100 acres and corner areas are low-lying, where rainwater accumulated. We immediately deployed pumps to drain the water. The mandi has a sewage system, but water was too much and got accumulated.”

Sacks of paddy submerged at Fazilka mandi (Express Photo)

Former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar wrote on X: “The entire amount for procurement of paddy has been sent by Government of India, but it was your government, Mr. Bhagwant Mann, that was supposed to manage the arrangements in mandis. The rain that started last night hasn’t just gotten farmers’ crops wet in the mandis — it has also drowned their dreams. If you can spare some time from your corruption cases for which you are running to lawyers, then take care of farmers too.”

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Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon said: “Rain has exposed the gaps in procurement arrangements. Farmers have been left struggling and hassled at mandis. The crop they nurtured like a child has been submerged, while the Punjab chief minister is busy cracking jokes from the stage.”

Meanwhile, later in the day, when local AAP MLA Narinder Pal Singh Sawna reached the protest site in Fazilka, farmers and arthiyas raised slogans against the Punjab government, and as the legislator sat with them, protesters asked: “Sawna sahab, we are not going to let this go till we don’t get answer to why only Fazilka mandi was flooded this bad. Being an MLA, you have to answer. Will farmers be compensated?”

The protest was lifted after Sawna gave a written assurance to the protesters.

“The MLA has promised in writing that the mandi infrastructure will be upgraded, and losses incurred by farmers and arthiyas due to the Sunday flooding will be compensated by the Punjab government,” said Sachdeva, who is also a BJP councillor from Fazilka.