Every monsoon, around 600 dwellers in two Jalandhar villages face a similar fate — dislocation; plead for permanent relocation

This year too, residents have been forced to wade through five to six feet of water, their kutcha houses drowned, belongings lost, and hopes shattered. “Every flood washes away everything. We are left with nothing, except for the clothes we are wearing,” said Jaswinder Singh of Dhaka Basti, who is currently living with his family in a makeshift shelter on the dhussi bandh.

“Every year, after the flooding is over, we again make small rooms with our little earnings, knowing this will be washed away the next year,” Jaswinder added.

In the last flood, we lived in the camps set up by the government in a school for some time, and after that, we were forced to move to live under tarpaulin sheets and tents in the grain market of Null village. And later we picked bricks from the submerged skeletons of our homes to construct small rooms, and again they got damaged, said another villager, Mahinder Singh

In Dhakka Basti, residents, mostly landless labourers, built their huts inside the river embankment for generations. Every flood submerges their settlement, forcing them to restart from zero.

Villagers say their appeals for resettlement have gone unheard for decades, irrespective of the government in power. While relief camps and food were arranged in the immediate aftermath of the floods, long-term rehabilitation remained elusive.

As monsoon waters continue to claim their homes year after year, residents of Dhakka Basti have only one demand: “Give us land outside the river so that our children don’t have to live in fear of drowning every monsoon.”

The same is the story of slum dwellers in Kang Sabu, who have been facing a similar fate for decades.

Pendu Mazdoor union president Tarsem Peter said, “Why has the government not been listening pleas of these poor people? The government can give 5 marlas to them at a safer place to protect them from huge losses every year.”

AAP Rajya Sabha member Balbir Singh Seechewal noted, “During the 2023 floods, my team and I were among the first to reach Dhakka Basti to rescue those in need.”

Acknowledging that these residents require relocation, Seechewal said that the residents had previously presented their concerns to successive governments. “We are committed to taking up this issue with the Punjab government to move them to safer locations.”

About Kang Saabu, Seechewal said, “The Chitti Bein floods this area. I will visit there to gather ground reports and provide assistance to the affected residents.”

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