17 November, 2025 – Jallandhar : The recent death of a 13-year-old boy due to blood cancer at Baupur village has steeped his family in penury and debt. The crisis has been deepened by the damage to the family’s fields due to floods this year. Sharanjit Singh (35) has three acres of land and was working as a vehicle repair man until 2022. The family was poor, but life was good. The debt brought about by cancer of his then 10-year-old son, altered his life. The cancer relapsed this year, claiming the life of 13-year-old Sukhman Singh on October 5 last
For the village, it’s a collective tragedy, which reminds them of the demise of two children during the 2023 floods — Gurbir Singh Gora (8) and Gursimar Singh (11) – who drowned in Beas in 2023.
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Sukhman’s father Sharanjit, a crestfallen man, also blames their 20-feet borewell — which he says is a cause of maladies. All he needs is clean water and clearing of debts accumulated.
Sharanjit Singh says, “I quit my repair job in 2022 for Sukhman’s ongoing treatment at PGI Chandigarh. He had to be taken every three months. Even after he got better, I tried to restart my job as a mechanic but he would not part with me. While Sukhman had gotten better after 2022, his cancer relapsed this year. The PGI guys asked us to take him elsewhere. So, we took him to Mumbai (for cancer treatment). I borrowed money from wherever I could. His treatment started off well. But he later got pneumonia. After that, he never recuperated.”
“I spent over Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh on my son’s treatment. I have a Rs 32 lakh debt but no money to repay it. We were in Mumbai when the floods happened. My fields sustained some damage. I couldn’t even take our share of relief. All I need is my debt to be repaid and a new borewell for my family and mother to drink clean water,” he adds.
Sharanjit’s bore is 20-feet deep. “Due to financial crisis, we haven’t been able to afford a deeper borewell. My mother has liver cirrhosis. Most villagers have 300 to 400 feet deep bores. Mine is just 20 feet, since it cost just a few thousand rupees. Our water is not good, the pipes get blackened every few months.”
Village Sarpanch’s brother and a do-gooder, Paramjit Singh, says, “Sukhman’s death is a tragedy for the whole village. We couldn’t even grieve the child as we were busy in rescue and relief work. Several poor families in the village have borewells, 20 feet deep or so. Hence, they are cheaper. These just need a Rs 1,000 motor. Water in houses with deeper borewells is clean. But these houses have constant problems. Their motors go bad, pipes don’t work. We are planning to get an overhead tank for the village so that poor farmers also may get clean water. Our focus is now to get them clean water.”
The Baupur village doesn’t have an overhead water tank and all water supply is through borewells and tanks, the Sarpanch said.
The Tribune