Punjab: Diwali lights may be dimmed for families who lost their homes and crops to floods

Punjab: As the festival of lights approaches, darkness descends on the flood-ravaged villages of Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district, where families grapple with the loss of their homes, fields, and hopes. Pargat Singh, a marginal farmer from Rampur Gaura, who owned one and a half acres of land, had painstakingly built a small two-room house, but then the floods swept away his home. He had dreamed of celebrating Diwali with his family after harvesting the paddy crop. He had also planned to invite his relatives home for Diwali celebrations. “Now, only the remains of my house remain. I have three daughters. Every year, I bring them sweets, firecrackers, and new clothes. This time, they are not asking for anything—they know we are now homeless. No one can imagine what a father feels seeing this sadness in his children’s eyes,” he said, holding back tears.

Pargat’s story resonates throughout the village. Nine families in Rampur Gaura lost their homes to the floodwaters. One of them is Major Singh, who, despite limited resources, celebrated Diwali with his children. “My younger son asked what I would give him for Diwali this year. What should I tell him? We have lost our house, our one acre of land—everything,” Major Singh said, standing among the ruins of his home. In Shahkot’s Mandla Channa village, four more families were displaced. Their homes, built near the embankment, were reduced to rubble. They are now living in temporary shelters. Swarn Kaur, a resident of Mandla Channa, described the trauma of seeing everything vanish. “Our houses never existed; there is no trace of them. The water swept away everything. There will be no Diwali for us this year,” she said, her voice filled with grief.