Face of linemen job protests to keep at it as MLA

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 14

Pirmal Singh, 37, has braved police batons in front of Capt Amarinder Singh’s New Moti Mahal, set himself on fire at Parkash Singh Badal’s Lambi village and climbed atop a water tank in Badal’s pocket borough of Bathinda — all for a Rs 10,000-a-month job.

The unemployed lineman from Barnala’s Dhaula village, who once “broke the law” as a protester to secure a Class-III job for himself and 5,000 others, will now sit in front of the “Maharaja” and Badal as an Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker from Bhadaur.

Pirmal, who has seen jail five times in the past seven years and has observed fast-unto-death thrice to protest the state’s failure to generate enough jobs, defeated Akalis’ Balbir Singh Ghunas and Congress’ Joginder Singh Punjgrain, both MLAs in the outgoing Assembly.

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The face of unemployed linemen agitation over the past 11 years, Pirmal took to agitation in 2006 when he was denied a job by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) despite having completed two-year apprenticeship with the corporation.

“While a regular lineman got around Rs 20,000 per month those days, we were ready to work at half the salary. In Patiala, police rained ‘lathis’ on us,” says Primal, who heads the Unemployed Linemen Union having 5,000 members.

In 2009, when union members were burning effigies of the Badal government at Lambi, Pirmal poured kerosene over himself and jumped over the burning effigies. “I suffered burns on the lower limbs. The next year, I climbed atop a water tank in Bathinda carrying kerosene. We came down only after being assured jobs.” He was among around 1,000 linemen who were employed by the PSPCL after a long agitation.

“However, I continued to struggle for 4,000 unemployed linemen. I was sent to jail for the fourth time in 2012 and my services were terminated.”

Pirmal says his “only wish is jobs for youths without resorting to protests. As an MLA, I’ll keep reminding Capt Amarinder of his promise of a job to each household”.