Floods ravage Pilibhit villages; homes & farmlands at risk

PILIBHIT: Villagers in Pilibhit are grappling with severe soil erosion as the Sharda and Devha rivers recede after recent floods. Strong currents have swept away standing sugarcane crops and eroded farmland across more than two dozen villages in Puranpur, Kalinagar, Pilibhit Sadar, Bisalpur, and Amaria tehsils.The erosion is so severe that homes in Khirkiya Bargadia, Hajara, and Naokurh villages now stand dangerously close to the river, forcing families to evacuate. The Sharda, despite its discharge level dropping from over 2 lakh cusecs to 65,000–70,000 cusecs, continues to wreak havoc. Many villagers who resettled on forest land after the 1971 Indo-Pak war said they were “denied compensation for crop losses because they lacked valid land titles”.Vasudev Kundu, head of Chandia Hajara village, said families were rehabilitated after the 1971 Indo-Pak war with 2.5 acres of farmland each, but were “never given ownership documents”, leaving them ineligible for aid. “This deprivation has left us without financial assistance for crop damage, even as floods repeatedly wipe out our land,” he said, noting that over the past two years, villagers have lost 300 acres of land and standing sugarcane.

Several homes in Hajara face the risk of being washed away, while 70 families in Rahul Nagar have lost 175 acres to Sharda’s floods. In Khirkiya Bargadia, around 22 marginal farmers were rendered landless after the river swallowed 80 acres of farmland. Over 70 families in Dhruv Colony are also on the brink of displacement, with many taking shelter in nearby Dakka Chat.Puranpur SDM Ajit Pratap Singh said flood-control teams will lay sandbag crates along 400 metres of the riverbank to check further erosion.

Flood-control SDO Sumit Sachan added that drone surveys have been conducted, and temporary relief work will begin within days.In Naokurh village of Pilibhit Sadar, four families were evacuated from homes at risk of being swept away by the Devha. ADM (finance and revenue) Ritu Punia said the administration is providing daily cooked meals to the displaced and will grant Rs 1.20 lakh to each person who loses a house under the norms of Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana.Rajendra Prasad, husband of Naokurh’s village head Premwati, said the Devha eroded over 20 acres of farmland within a week.