Fields inundated, farmers in Loni put up in camps stare at financial loss
The land does not belong to him, Rajwinder has taken it on lease from the landowner and invested Rs 1.15 lakh so far on the crop. Now, he is not only set to suffer a huge financial loss, but has also lost his home – his jhuggi, built on the agricultural land, is also inundated.
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Residents of Panchayara village in Loni who have been displaced. Express photoRajwinder, a 45-year-old farmer from Ghaziabad’s Loni, stood on the Yamuna floodplains on Thursday, watching the river rise. Soon, the sugarcane crops, which he sowed on 16 bighas of land, were under water.
The land does not belong to him, Rajwinder has taken it on lease from the landowner and invested Rs 1.15 lakh so far on the crop. Now, he is not only set to suffer a huge financial loss, but has also lost his home – his jhuggi, built on the agricultural land, is also inundated.
Rajwinder is one of the 100-odd families from Panchayara village in Loni, residing in jhuggies built on agricultural fields, who have taken shelter in tents set up by the district administration.
On Sunday, officials from the Ghaziabad administration had come to them and announced that 3,29,313 cusecs of water has been discharged into the Yamuna from the Hathnikund Barrage and that the water level would rise, flooding Delhi and surrounding areas. They had urged the residents to move to a safer place. But the farmers – mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, who had leased farmland to cultivate soybean, radish, coriander, carrot and rice – had stayed put.
But on Thursday afternoon, as water entered the fields, they had no other option but to relocate.
“Last year, we had a good produce and so this year, I thought I would get my daughter married… I paid in advance this year,” Rajwinder said.
He is not alone. Mohammad Khursaid has sold his tractor and a trolley to pull in money to sow rice crop. “I don’t own the field. I had taken it on lease… Now, I regret my decision,” he said.
Kusum (37), who left her jhuggi and shifted to a camp after water reached her field, where she and her husband Rajesh Yadav (42) grew radish and carrot, was not happy with the arrangements made by the administration.
“They have not given us any facilities… They give us food twice a day. In the name of facilities, they have put up this tent, installed a light and stationed a water tanker outside,” she said.
Kamla Kumari (41), meanwhile, has decided not to relocate. Her family has built a bridge made of stones for her husband Kamal and cattle to commute. “They asked us to leave but where do we go? Where will my two cows and two buffaloes go?” she asked.
Back at the camps, however, for farmers Nandlal and Vijendra, what is more worrying is life after the water recedes. “We are not educated. All our savings are gone. We would not receive any compensation. What will we do?” Vijendra asked.
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