Punjab Floods: 43 Dead, Millions Displaced in India & Pakistan

New Delhi, September 5: In Punjab, the rain has not just fallen it has swallowed the land. The numbers are staggering, yes, but in every village the flood is something else fields gone under brown water, homes split at the foundation, families waiting for rescue on rooftops.

On the Indian side, officials now count 43 dead. Almost 1,900 villages are affected, from Amritsar in the north to Mansa in the south. Farmers say 1.75 lakh acres of paddy fields are gone. Across the border in Pakistan, the scale is harder to fathom 1.8 million people displaced in less than a month, almost 3.8 million touched by the flood in one way or another.

This is Punjab, both sides. And it is drowning.

Villages Drowned, Families Stranded

Travel through the state and it’s the same scene repeated tractors doubling as lifeboats, children perched on charpoys to stay dry, animals tied to trees with their heads barely above water. In Ludhiana, farmers say their entire crop has vanished overnight. In Patiala, locals have been waving at drones dropping food packets.

One farmer in Sangrur shouted to a reporter through the rain, “We didn’t just lose crops. We lost our land itself.”

In Pakistan’s Punjab, it is worse. Entire clusters of houses have been wiped out near Multan. People who fled say they carried little more than clothes on their backs. “The water chased us,” one evacuee told aid workers. “It kept rising, and there was no place left to run.”

Relief Efforts On Two Fronts

India has pulled in the Army, NDRF, and BSF. About 21,000 people have been evacuated. Camps have come up in schools and panchayat halls 174 of them, though many are packed tight.

The unusual sight this time drones delivering aid. The Punjab Police, directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, are dropping kits of dal, rice, and medicines. In one clip from Patiala, women are shown crying as packets fall into their flooded courtyards.

Pakistan has sent in the military too. Boats and trucks are running day and night. NGOs are handing out wheat flour, cooking oil, and bottled water. But the flood is outrunning the help. With half a million people forced out in just 24 hours, the relief can’t keep pace.

Politics Pours In

As waters rose, so did the politics.

Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan toured damaged districts with Punjab’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian. Khudian asked that farmers get at least ₹50,000 an acre in compensation instead of the current ₹6,800. He also demanded ₹8,000 crore be released from central funds.

Opposition leaders went sharper. Arvind Kejriwal visited villages and told people, “The whole country stands with you.” Congress’s Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called for a ₹50,000 crore package. State Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema snapped at the Centre “You gave aid to Afghanistan in days. Why not to Punjab?” Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda added his voice, demanding 100% compensation for homes, crops, and livestock.

The pattern is familiar. When water rises, politics floods too.

Farmers Fear What Comes Next

For farmers, this is not just a single ruined harvest. Paddy under water for weeks destroys the soil. Experts warn the land may not be ready for the next sowing at all. Farmers, already buried in loans, now see another wave of debt approaching.

A man near Tarn Taran said it plainly “The water will leave. The loans will not.”

Pakistan’s Punjab Under Siege

Pakistan, already staggering from its economic crisis, is staring at a humanitarian one. Nearly 3,900 villages are gone under water. The memory of the 2022 floods is fresh, when 33 million people were hit. Now, again, families are camped on embankments, clutching whatever food aid they can get.

Hospitals are reporting diarrhoea and skin infections. Prices of wheat and vegetables are spiking in local markets. Aid agencies warn that if more rain comes, the crisis will double.

Bigger Than Borders

The truth is this Punjab tragedy is not only about rain. The Indus basin is changing. Rains fall harder, rivers rise faster, and embankments break sooner. Climate scientists have warned of this pattern of dry spells and then sudden downpours, and both India and Pakistan are paying the price.

But there is no joint planning, no cross-border system to handle shared rivers. Politics stops it. Climate doesn’t care.

After The Waters

For India, the fight ahead is compensation and recovery. Will Delhi send serious aid, or will farmers be left alone? For Pakistan, it is survival itself, housing millions and feeding millions, all while the economy wobbles.

Either way, Punjab on both sides is learning the same hard lesson. The monsoon is no longer a promise of crops. It has become a season of fear.

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Ananya Sharma

Senior Political Correspondent – [email protected] – Web

Covers Indian politics, governance, and policy developments with over a decade of experience in political reporting.

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