Harpreet’s travel agent in Russia to ‘secure’ discharge

Neeraj Bagga

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 10

A day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated in the Lok Sabha that 69 Indians in the Russian army still awaited their release, hope floats among family members of Harpreet Singh of Amritsar’s Ghanupur Kale village that the Union government would ensure his safety.

Their agonising wait may be nearing its end as his travel agent Daljit Singh, a native of his village, has arrived in Moscow to facilitate Harpreet’s return. Deployed at Donetsk — which witnessed one of the bloodiest battles of the Ukraine war — Harpreet has been yearning to return home and leaning on friends and family for support.

Back home, it hasn’t been easy for his family either. His father Narinder Singh, who plies a ‘rehra’, said his son had never been away from family and was homesick. Things became particularly difficult when he was denied the mandatory 14-day leave to overseas soldiers after six months of service.

The family’s limited means did nothing to mitigate the situation. Harpreet’s brother Veer Singh, who works as a construction labourer, said they did not have the money to fund his return air ticket. For Harpreet, the entire experience had been nothing short of a trial by fire. Talking to The Tribune over the phone, Daljit said he had submitted relevant documents at the military office to end Harpreet’s contract with the Russian army.

Daljit said the inhospitable conditions had taken a toll on Harpreet, who had seen death from close quarters, and had once recounted how four of the seven persons he had dinner with the previous night did not return from the war zone. He was later told that they had been killed in action. The situation was all the more grave as Harpreet, who only spoke Punjabi, was facing communication issues, and was struggling with the extreme cold conditions and food.

Several youths from Haryana, said Daljit, were arriving in Russia in search for employment and a large number of Indian youths in the Russian army belonged to Punjab. If Harpreet wanted to stay back and earn for his family, there were ample jobs in the civilian sector in Russia, claimed Daljit. While the army offered a remuneration of Rs 2.5 lakh a month, non-military sectors offered around Rs 70,000, he elaborated.

The stark reality of Indian youths fighting Russia’s war came to light after a youth from Punjab, Tejpal Singh, was killed in the Ukraine war, forcing New Delhi to take up the issue with Moscow.