At the flood relief camp established by Rangers near the Talwar post on the border with India, Javed Ali, a man in his 40s, disembarks from a rescue boat.
He is accompanied by his wife, a toddler daughter and around a dozen members his family, who have come to the camp in the hope of getting some relief goods.
“The flood hit our village, Nagar, about 10 days ago, but the water did not reach our homes until three days back. On Thursday, it surrounded my house and the rest of my neighbourhood. We could not leave on our own because there was water all around the village.”
“I kept calling the helpline, as well as a welfare organisation, but despite promises that they would send the boat, help arrived today after three days. Now, tell me where to go from here?” he asks, pointedly.
Javed’s daughter has a fever and she has developed a skin allergy due to exposure to rain and floodwater. His niece and wife also have similar symptoms, so they make a beeline for the medical camp, where a doctor examines them and gives them some medicine.
When asked where they they will go from here, Javed says they have to make it to their relatives in Bhai Pheru. “But I don’t know how to reach Kasur from here,” he says, looking around for help.
A rescuer tells him that their duty is to evacuate them from flooded areas; they cannot promise further conveyance.
Javed’s is one of the many families who were rescued and brought to the relief camp near the Talwar post. The border with India can be seen across the huge body of water that spreads as far as the eye can see.
This site has become an assembly point for flood-hit people from around 16 villages, the last Pakistani settlements before the border. Now, they are all inundated with water from the River Sutlej.
The meandering Sutlej flowing alongside lush green rice fields: this is the sight that greets us on our way to the Ganda Singh border.
Initially, as we head down the main road, there is no sign of flooding. But as the village of Mahalam Kalan nears, around 15km from Ferozepur Road, the presence of Rangers bunkers and military personnel indicates that something is up.
At Rajiwala Araiyaan, the floodwater comes into view, along with a hullabaloo of activity, with hordes of flood-affected people and their cattle gathering in groups as relief activities are in full swing.
It has been two weeks since waters from the overflowing Sutlej first hit this area, but rescue boats are still busy ferrying those stranded in nearly villages.
A medical camp has been established near the Talwar Post, so that flood victims can receive first aid before they head out, most seeking shelter with relatives in nearby towns, or in relief camps.
The embankment at Rajiwala Road, on the edge of the floodwaters, is quite muddy due to fresh rain. Here, we see about 50 sheep, and Salman – a young man in his 20s – tending to them. He tells us he brought his animals to safety in a rickety boat around 11 days ago.
“There is nothing left in our houses. All we have were these animals. We are keeping the sheep here, but we have sent cows and other large animals ahead for fodder. There is nothing here. We don’t even have fodder for the sheep. We are arranging everything on our own, including food.”
He says there were 150 houses in his village, all of which were empty by the time they left. The authorities are preventing anyone from going back, so most people are understandably quite anxious about the state of their homes.
The main concern here is not just with people or property; it is the animals. Most of the flood-hit villagers are farmers who depend on their cattle for their livelihood. They cannot simply leave them behind, and relocating them to far-flung places is not feasible.
Mushtaq and Shahid, from the Bhikhiwind village, have also tethered their cows and buffaloes near the relief camp. They point to their village from where they sit; there is nothing there but deep, unnavigable waters.
They say that in the past, the water would reach their village, but it never breached their homes. This year, they said, there was more water than they had ever seen in their lives.
There were 25 families living in Bhikhiwind, all of whom have now been evacuated.
Around a fortnight ago, when they first evacuated, one man from each family stayed behind to protect their animals and property. However, law enforcement forced these stragglers out too, and now the people complain they have no support from the government, either in arranging food for themselves or fodder for their animals.
When we head over to the relief camp set up in the Rajiwala school, the guards don’t let us enter.
Amir Ali, a policeman deployed at the camp, says that residents of around 16 flooded villages had been brought to the camp. If people don’t leave their flooded villages and homes, the police brings them over forcibly, he says.
But the women from Bhikhiwind tell us that the day the army chief visited the area, they were enrolled at the camp. However, they did not receive any food, despite waiting the entire day.
The disappointed families say that they don’t expect anything from the government now. “Only Al-Khair and Al-Khidmat Foundation gave us some food,” says Mushtaq.
However, officials deputed at the relief camp deny these allegations. “Many people from the villages which are not affected by flood also approach the camp to demand food and fodder. We need to check their CNICs and seek the evidence of animals and family members,” said an official.
Muhammad Farooq has been voluntarily operating a raft (locally known as a Baira) since the flood hit. When we meet him, he is bringing ashore a motorcycle-rickshaw, a couple of heads of cattle, as well as people from the villages of Changa Singh and Dhupsari.
He says he gets diesel from the deputy commissioner’s office to run his Baira, which he uses to transport people, their animals and other heavy loads to the camp.
Asif, a resident of Changa Singh, is disembarking from Farooq’s raft as we arrive. He has just returned from a visit to his inundated village, which he left about eight days ago.
When they left, some elders were left behind to look after the houses, and every couple of days, someone returns to check on them. On this trip, Asif spent the night trying to save his family’s wheat stocks, placing them on the rooftop and covering them up to protect them from the elements.
But as the heavens open up, he looks crestfallen, fearing the rain might spoil their wheat too.
Header Image: Residents travel with their belongings on a boat as they head towards a higher ground in Punjab’s Kasur district, Aug 29. — Reuters
