Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spent Monday touring parts of flood-ravaged Punjab, meeting families who have lost homes and crops in one of the state’s worst disasters in recent years.
Gandhi landed at Amritsar airport around 9:30 am and immediately drove to Ghonewal village in Ajnala, where he walked through waterlogged streets to speak with residents. Villagers showed him collapsed houses and fields still submerged in muddy water. Before leaving the area, he paid obeisance at Gurudwara Beed Baba Budha Sahib.
He later travelled to Gurchak village in Gurdaspur district, where the breaching of a dam has devastated farmland and homes. Gandhi met farmers who narrated how standing crops had been washed away within hours. In a symbolic gesture, he boarded a tractor to reach his car parked half a kilometre away, after first covering the distance on foot.
His next stop was Dinanagar, another badly affected pocket of the district.
According to official figures, the floods have struck over 2000 villages across 23 districts, submerging more than 1.9 lakh hectares of crops. At least 52 people have died in 15 districts, while thousands remain displaced. Entire stretches of farmland, particularly in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and adjoining areas, have been left waterlogged weeks after the initial deluge.
Relief work is underway, but the damage has been severe. Farmers say they face financial ruin, with paddy and vegetable crops completely destroyed just weeks before harvest. The state government has deputed nodal officers in every district to oversee rehabilitation, while the Centre has announced an interim relief package to support recovery efforts.
Though Gandhi avoided media interactions during the tour, his direct engagement with farmers and displaced families was viewed as a signal of solidarity at a time when anger is mounting over alleged token compensation by centre and AAP's mismanagement of funds.
Party leaders said his presence was meant to draw attention to the suffering on the ground and to press both the state and central governments to accelerate rehabilitation measures.
