Tarsika villagers seek restoration of block development office status

Residents of Tarsika village, located on the Amritsar–Mehta road, are deeply aggrieved with the AAP-led Punjab Government, as they believe their historic position as a block headquarters for more than 80 villages has been eroded by its disbandment.

For over two months now, villagers have been holding an agitation demanding restoration of block development office (BDO) status to their settlement. This led to the formation of the Tarsika Block Bachao Morcha, spearheaded by Simranjit Singh Mangat. The movement has drawn support from farmer organisations including the Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Committee, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha and others.

“We carried out a tractor march against the government on September 12 and staged a protest march on September 9. Officials and ministers are giving us false assurances, which we no longer believe. We are planning a fresh phase of protests,” said Mangat.

Tarsika, the largest village in the erstwhile block comprising 83 villages, has long enjoyed administrative prominence. Nachattar Singh, a small farmer who supplements his income by running a karyana shop, recalled, “In the past, even a visit to the district administration office in Amritsar or the education offices would elicit prompt response if one merely mentioned Tarsika block. Now, in this fast-changing world, the block itself may soon be history.”

As per the new administrative framework, only villages falling within a single assembly segment will form a block. Earlier, Tarsika block comprised villages from Majitha, Jandiala and Baba Bakala constituencies. These have now been reorganised into Majitha 1 and Majitha 2 blocks, with new headquarters at Rayya (for Baba Bakala) and Jandiala village (for Jandiala Guru).

A Block Panchayat Samiti office had been functioning in Tarsika since 1965. The village also gained recognition from the ‘Mamla’, a type of tax once collected from tillers and deposited across three different departments.

Mangat pointed out that the notification to dissolve Tarsika block was issued on August 8. “Tarsika is centrally located. On one extreme lies Jandiala, nearly 17 km away on the Amritsar–Jalandhar GT road, while on the other end are villages bordering Batala in Gurdaspur district, about 15 km away,” he said, contending that Tarsika is the ideal location for a block office.

Veteran Punjabi writer and senior resident Attar Singh Tarsika recalled that the village once donated nearly 60 acres of land through its Panchayat for constructing a hospital, tehsil and other government offices. “Now the government has changed the administrative set-up, leaving behind vacant offices,” he lamented.