The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
More than war, villagers worry about crop they have left
LUSH GREEN paddy fields as far as the eye can see, the sound of water gushing from a tubewell, fields lined with tall poplars and eucalyptus.
Notwithstanding the razor wire strung on a fence in the near distance, the view from the top of Gurwinder Singh’s doublestorey house in this village — 700 metres from Zero Line, the International Boundary between India and Pakistan — could have been one of unmatched rural idyll, had it been another day or another place.
But a day after the Punjab government, acting on the Union Home Ministry’s advice, ordered evacuation of all villages in a 10 km radius of the border, even the prettiest sight takes ominous hues.
Most of the 450 people in the village left in panic. But as the sun dawned on Friday, many returned, worried about their crop, homes, animals, and confused about whether there was a real threat from across the border.
“Most people left last evening after the warning. I came back this morning to feed my animals and water the fields. In ten days, my paddy will be ripen and it will be time to harvest it, but everything is up in the air now,” said Gurwinder.
The BSF did not open the black gate on the razor wire fence this morning to allow farmers to access their fields between the fence and Zero Line. Of the nine acres owned by Gurwinder’s family, six lie beyond the fence. There is no fence separating his land from that of Pakistani farmers on the other side.
“If we can’t harvest it, it will all go waste,” said Gurwinder. On his mind is a Rs 6 lakh loan from the “arthiya” or commission agent at the mandi, that he took three years ago to add a floor and more rooms to his house, and for his marriage. He repays by pledging the crop to the arthiya.
“Maybe the government will pay some compensation,” he said, recalling that during the Kargil war, there was a similar evacuation, but the Army laid mines in the area and villagers could not return to the fields for over a year.
On Thursday, in the midst of the evacuation, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal asked farmers not to panic, and not to harvest before the crop had ripened.
But with uncertainty looming, many men in Roranwala returned in the morning, after leaving their wives and children in Amritsar with relatives.