Farmers in Amritsar’s Kakkar and Rania villages are facing fresh heartbreak. Already struggling to cultivate land beyond the barbed border fence, they are now hit by Ravi river erosion in Amritsar, which has swallowed nearly 50 acres of fertile farmland.
Sukhrajbir Pal Singh Gill from Kakkar said the raging river changed its course, sweeping away their fields before crossing into Pakistan. “We could only watch as our ancestral land disappeared,” he said. His family lost 15 of their 50 acres.
For many villagers, the loss is both economic and emotional. Farming is their only livelihood, and now even that is slipping away. “The erosion is ongoing. Our land continues to vanish,” said Jasbir Singh.
Harjit Singh of Rania added that the land was more than income—it was their identity. Some villagers also blamed unregulated dam releases upstream for the crisis.
Officials promised compensation under SDRF rules: ₹47,000 per hectare for land, ₹20,000 per acre for crops, and input subsidy. But farmers call this relief inadequate. Jamhoori Kisan Sabha leader Ratan Singh Randhawa demanded ₹45 lakh per acre for land washed away.
