Gurdaspur/ Pathankot Dairy

Photo Caption: MLA Fateh Jung Bajwa distributing masks in Qadian.

FOR AMRITSAR TRIBUNE

Ravi Dhaliwal

BJP on the go

The BJP has already started the process of identifying its candidates for all the four seats it has been allocated in Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency, including the Dinanagar (reserve) seat. Insiders claim that the mettle may fall upon the erudite Renu Kashyap, daughter-in-law of former legislator Sita Ram Kashyap. Postgraduate in Commerce and English, she ticks all the boxes. Moreover, the party wants a woman candidate to take on sitting MLA and Cabinet Minister Aruna Chaudhury. There are others in the fray too, including Dalit leader Joginder Singh Chinna. What may tilt the scales in favour of Kashyap is the fact that, like Chaudhury, she too belongs to a political family. The identification process has also started for the seats of Pathankot, Sujanpur and Bhoa.

SSR’s death a burning topic

Unsurprisngly, the high-profile Sushant Singh Rajput death case is also resonating here in Gurdaspur. Students can be heard discussing the finer points more than they ponder over their school syllabi. Judgments are being passed left, right and centre. Residents have their own versions of how, why and when he died. This parliamentary constituency has a fascination for Tinseltown with Vinod Khanna remaining a four-time MP and Sunny Deol being the incumbent one. Whether Rajput got blinded by the bright lights of Bollywood, inadvertently or otherwise, is still in the realms of conjecture and speculation but residents here have ensured he lives life kingsize even after his death.

Hotels on the brink

The outbreak has sounded the death knell for the hotel industry in border towns of Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Batala. Around 80 per cent of the industry has shut down while the ones still open are struggling to return loans taken from banks and private lenders at exorbitant rates. The fact that the virus originated in Wuhan has resulted in wiping away of Chinese dishes from the menus. People fear these recipes and no longer order them. The footfall remains low. Several owners are reluctant to push shutters up as they will have to pay full salaries to their employees amid low income.

Administration stumbles, businessman won’t donate no more

Dubai businessman and philanthropist Surinder Pal Singh Oberoi may be sending stocks of ration and medical equipment, including ventilators, to all parts of Punjab. However, whenever Gurdaspur’s turn comes, he tends to look the other way. Any animosity? Well, the last time he had done so, the administration failed to distribute it on time and certain stocks, like flour, got spoiled. The businessman was livid when volunteers of his charitable trust ‘Sarbat Da Bhala’ informed him of the administration’s goof-up. Ever since then he has ticked off Gurdaspur from his list. The blunder means that poor will not be the beneficiary of free ration anymore. The man out on the street who cannot afford two square meals a day, demands a thorough probe. Oberoi, whose political clout is well known, wanted to apprise the CM of this lapse but when somebody told him it could result in harsh actions for some, he refrained from doing so. “I am into charity not to get people suspended or transferred. I am doing so to ensure the poor do not sleep starving, Covid or no Covid,” he said.

MLA Bajwa’s new organisation gives away masks and sanitisers

With leaders making use of Covid to stay in the spotlight by distributing ration kits, Qadian sitting MLA Fateh Jung Bajwa and his actor-son, Arjun Partap Bajwa, who is also a Zila Parishad member, have taken the initiative a step ahead. The father-son duo have established a social organisation, Satbachchan, which hands out masks and sanitisers in every nook and corner of the town. Fateh said they had purchased the items in bulk and now want their constituents to use them for safety of all. “I often tell the uninitiated that wearing masks reduces the chances of spreading the virus into the air and onto surfaces if at all you are affected. The other benefit is that a mask, depending on the type of fabric and how diligently you wear it, can reduce your exposure to the virus that might be present in the air thus decreasing your chances of catching the disease,” said Arjun.