Border villagers have nowhere to go

With evacuation ordered in about 1,000 villages close to the Punjab-Pakistan border on Thursday, scores of villages wore a deserted look in less than 24 hours. But there are many villages where people have refused to move out. In fact, there are reports of villagers returning to their homes a day later.

After all, a displacement of such a magnitude for a long duration is not easy. Paddy is ready for harvest in the fields. Earnings through agriculture is their bread and butter.

In border town Fazilka, like in many other border districts, government schools, community centres and Sikh shrines have turned into relief centres for hundreds of displaced families. Classrooms have turned into dormitories.

A few pedestal fans attempt to keep tempers cool. Community kitchens are being organised for food three times a day. Villagers say they don’t know for how long this arrangement will continue. The government is aware of the looming crisis. A failed paddy harvest could be disaster in an election year.

The government says farmers in these sensitive zones will be allowed to harvest their crop at the earliest and priority will be accorded to displaced farmers when it comes to procurement. Paramjit Singh, 78, of Naushehra village says he will not move out until his crop is harvested. “How can I leave my standing crop. I have a bank loan to pay. How will my family survive if the crop is damaged," he asks. Eighty-year-old Pyar Kaur also refuses to leave her village home. “I didn’t move out during ’65 war, ’71 war. Why will I go now. We will support the Army if the situation deteriorates,” she says.

In Taran Taran district, there are reports of several ATMs running out of cash. Petrol filling stations witnessed a beeline for the second day on Friday with people in panic.
The men folk in many villages have chosen to stay back, allowing  children and women to stay with family friends and relatives  faraway.

Bundles of tightly tied bedsheets with wearables and utensils stuffed inside are all that many of these displaced families are taking along to safer places.

Panic move
Many, like state Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh, have questioned the “panic move” by the government to evacuate villagers even before the Army has been fully mobilised and moved in. Almost every village house has more than one cattle. This too is posing a dilemma to leave their settlements.