Family Lives in Tent
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Jugraj Singh’s dream home collapses under gushing Ravi waters; family struggles to salvage belongings while he returns to Italy to rebuild
Jugraj Singh, an NRI who spent nine years and his entire savings earned from working on a farm in Italy to build a Rs 2.5-crore dream home in Amritsar’s Ghonewal village, saw his palatial house collapse last month due to the raging Ravi river, reported business-standard.com.
Jugraj has returned to Italy to earn enough to rebuild, while his December wedding has been postponed due to the tragedy. Several Good Samaritans, including a Gulf-based NRI singer and people from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, contributed Rs 14 lakh—a small fraction of their total loss. Contractors have quoted Rs 3 lakh for clearing the debris.
The family, including Jugraj’s parents and younger brother Ajaypal, now lives in a makeshift tent atop the cattle enclosure, trying to recover whatever they can from the debris
Jugraj’s mother, Sukhjinder Kaur, said the family managed to salvage gold ornaments prepared for the weddings of her two sons. Ajaypal added that the family is currently cleaning bricks to reuse them, hoping to reconstruct the house in the future. Sardul Singh, Jugraj’s father, said rebuilding would take years.
Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney confirmed that the administration had reached out to affected families. “At Ghonewal village, we will shortly be able to rehabilitate and repair houses,” she said, highlighting support from the Sun Foundation, a local non-profit.
