Sultanpur Lodhi: After the floods, Punjab’s farmers and diaspora have taken on the herculean task of plugging breaches and desilting fields through sewa (volunteer service), with little official
help. From mitti and diesel di sewa to tractors, excavators, and even boats, the vocabulary of sewa has grown with each need on the ground. This expression of selfless service continues to be on display in Kapurthala district’s Sultanpur Lodhi tehsil. With work going on to plug a 750-metre-long breach in a temporary embankment of the Beas in Ahli Kalan village, 33 earth-loaded tractor-trolleys and a diesel tanker from Gehal village in Barnala district covered around 130 km on Monday and reached the flood-hit village by forenoon. After unloading the earth, tractors began
working at the site. “Farmers of our village pooled in their resources, and NRIs too contributed. A group of us came to the village a week ago to make our own assessment of what we can do. We started from our village around 4.30am and reached around 11am on Monday. After we unloaded our trolleys, we began to move earth already dumped in the village to the bundh site. We shall work till late evening and shall return on Wednesday morning,” said a young farmer, who pleaded that his name be withheld for the reason that all of them were contributing equally and a single person should not get prominence. They are a group of 52. Except one, all are youth.
The breach took place on Aug 26. Videos of farmers making last-ditch efforts to save the bundh, the breach taking place, and despair gripping them went viral. Afterward, youth from the neighbouring Ahli Khurd village issued a video appeal on the same day, saying that they did not require ration as they had enough, but only earth for plugging the breach. Next day, earth-loaded tractor-trolleys started reaching the village. According to villagers, they received over 300 earth-loaded trolleys and they dumped these in the village. “The despair was just a day long. It started getting replaced with the atmosphere of ‘Chardi Kala’ (Sikh concept of high spirits in all conditions, including adversities) from the next day as help started reaching and since then daily help has been arriving from other parts of Punjab, Haryana, parts of Rajasthan, and parts of UP. It has been like a mela (fair), people coming here with help, our villagers serving them and joining them in work, and we have forgotten our losses and the spirit of Chardi Kala prevails. When we village residents talk among ourselves, we often mention how we can repay this big
support and effort,” said Rashpal Singh Sandhu, who has been coordinating work and keeping accounts.
In fact, at several places where breaches are being plugged or fields are being desilted, farmers from other areas
are bringing their tractors along with diesel. Men and machines first came from Ramgarh village in Patiala;
Rahimpur in Jalandhar; and other places to plug a breach at another embankment in Baupur Mand area of
Sultanpur Lodhi, and are now involved in desilting.