In Amritsar district: a flood of challenges

People in Machhiwala village offered this reporter a cup of tea, the ingredients for which came from relief material disbursed during disasters. The widespread floods caused by the Ravi bursting its banks, destroyed their homes, filled their fields with silt and water, and left them marooned, living in makeshift tents.

They lost almost everything in the August flood.

Sarabjit Kaur is sitting in a jhuggi (makeshift house) outside Machhiwala village in Ramdas block, near what used to be her home before the Ravi river washed it away. Kaur manages an awkward smile even while detailing the terrible turn her life has taken.

“We were trying to strengthen the bundh [man-made banks] all night,” the 18-year-old tells PARI. “At 6 a.m. on August 27 [2025] there was an announcement on a loudspeaker in the gurudwara – which was heard and passed around in the village – that the dhussi [an embankment made with soil] had broken. We all ran to take shelter on higher ground.”

Machhiwala is a small village in Amritsar district with a population of around 1,186 people (Census 2011), mostly from the Jatt Sikh and Rai Sikh communities, the latter listed as Scheduled Caste in Punjab. The Dalit families survive mainly on farming small parcels of land, and doing agricultural work in the fields of others.

Sarabjit’s family are landless Rai Sikhs and do agricultural labour to get by. Her mother, who also worked as a farm labourer, died six months ago; her father suffers from epilepsy and cannot work. The family of two brothers and a sister, all work as labour to run their household.

The floods submerged the village for three to four days, water levels reaching upto eight feet. It destroyed the modest homes of farm workers, completely damaged the kharif paddy crop on the verge of ripening, and filled the fields with silt. Huge eucalyptus trees were uprooted.

All across Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts, wide swathes of land flooded when water was suddenly released into the Ravi river from the Ranjit Sagar Dam. Also known as the Thein Dam, it lies at the northern edge of the state, over 100 kilometres from Sarabjit’s village. By August 26th, it had already touched its maximum permissible level of 528 metres due to relentless inflows from catchments in Himachal and Jammu & Kashmir, where late monsoon spells were unusually heavy.

Then on August 26, 2025, Udhampur received 629 mm rainfall in 24 hours, local news reports say. The dam, located downstream, was holding upto 528.008 metres, almost its maximum height. When the rain water started filling the reservoir, there was no option but to open the gates wide, releasing almost as much as it received: an outflow of 2.15 lakh cubic feet per second (cusecs) against an inflow of 2.25 lakh cusecs.

The outflow snapped two gates at Madhopur barrage built in 1959. The fast flowing Ujh river (a tributary) joined the swollen Ravi, flooding the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur and the region across the international border – Sarabjit’s village is just five km from the Pakistan border. Such flooding in Ravi river was last seen in 1988.

Sarabjit recalls the sheer terror that gripped her and others. They had never seen anything like this. As the waters rose swiftly, the villagers were unable to retrieve much, and finally rushed to take shelter at the landlord's house which was located on higher ground. Most Jat Sikh homes were still standing, albeit with some damage.

From here the marooned villagers could see water filling their fields, their belongings afloat, their homes destroyed. For at least three days, villagers were stranded, some having nothing to eat or feed their cattle. It took the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) time to arrive, so locals helped each other out. Over 1.3 lakh people in Amritsar district were affected, and the "huge loss livestock" is yet to be assessed (Flood Bulletin dated Sept 18, 2025).

An agricultural labourer with a few head of cattle, 62-year-old Jaspal Singh says, “no boat, no help reached us for at least two days. We stayed hungry and in fear amidst water.” He was able to salvage his cattle and some belongings.

Official state figures say that 2,490 villages have been affected by the floods and 57 people have lost their lives. Almost two lakh hectares of crop area has been affected, the highest being in Amritsar district alone, 27,154 hectares. “The landowner has lost everything and so have we,” Baldev Singh told PARI.

In his seventies, Baldev Singh only managed to save his cattle. “We were feeding the animals when the water came rushing. We could not get anything out in time. We were just able to save the cattle,” he says, sitting outside his jhuggi (makeshift home).

The elderly farm labourer told PARI: “It is worse than 1988 this time.” He adds, “Saari zindagi ethe hi langh gayi, kithe jawange asin [We have spent our whole lives here, where will we go]?”

All of Singh’s six family members work as farm labour, each earning about Rs. 8,000 a month during the sowing season. “Bhukhe maran wali gall a [We could die of starvation],” he says, but for the support from relief organisations. He is also worried about water borne diseases that could spread from the standing flood waters collected around them.

While the water level had receded by the first week of September, several man-made banks (dhussis) still remained broken. Locals with the help of non-profit organisations have been trying to strengthen them again. Relief organisations, local non-governmental organisations, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, citizens from beyond Punjab (Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh) have been bringing in ration, relief material, cattle feed, sanitary supplies and medicines for the people in flood-hit areas.

Both erratic rainfall and extreme weather conditions due to climate change have become a reality in the region. A big hydroelectric dam like the Ranjit Sagar Dam, “does not take into account weather predictions,” points out Jaskirat Singh, a climate activist based in Ludhiana. He adds: “the dams were filled up close to their full reservoir levels by mid-August. They do not have [spare] capacity left when the monsoons arrive.”

Sarabjit earns Rs. 4,000 for sowing paddy in an acre. Besides this seasonal earning, she also earns Rs. 40 an hour digging out weeds from fields. But all of that work is lost for now while they wait for any help to rebuild their lives.

The 18-year-old young girl is anxious about her future. “I studied till Class 8 in the village school, I completed my schooling through [online] open schooling. Now I work as a farm labourer,” she says, seated on a charpai. Sarabjit wanted to study further but stopped to help out at home. After the devastation caused by the flood, she is wondering what will happen to her wages.

Her brother, 15-year-old Ranjit Singh shows this reporter what used to be their house till August this year. The front of the house has been completely washed away. One can make out the two rooms and an almirah still standing between. It could not be approached because of the water and silt collected around it. “It was 7-8 feet of water. For 2-3 days we had to live in the landowner’s house,” he says. Ranjit dropped out of school after Class 9, and has been apprenticing as a mechanic so that he can help the house with his wages.

The land upon which they worked was submerged in the flood water, completely damaging the kharif crops. Now it is covered with several feet of silt, removing which is going to be another challenge. While the Punjab Government has allowed farmers to clear their land and sell the silt without obtaining a permit till December 31, it seems unlikely that the farmers will be able to sow the upcoming rabi crop.

Jaspal Singh is sitting on the dhussi in a jhuggi with his family; his home has been swept away. He mentions that they are in dire need of clothes. “I had to ask for these clothes in Ghoneywahala village,” he says, pointing to the clothes he is wearing. Temporary clotheslines are stretched around them, lined with the clothes and bedding they managed to grab when the flood water receded.

While a few days of warm sun will help the clothes dry out, the swollen wheat, also kept out to dry, is already rotting. A loss of many months of food.

All the people that PARI spoke to were keen to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives, they were unsure of what labour work they would get with farming taking a hit. They are completely dependent now on help provided by relief organisations.