Nobody came to our rescue: Driver

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 15

“Nobody cares about us. We are not permanent employees and are getting Rs 8,200 per month. Despite being unpaid for three months, we get attacked as there is no security for us,” said Sanjiv kumar, an earth mover operator who got injured while performing his duty during a demolition drive.

It was not a first incident for him. He along with others have been attacked several times earlier too. Today, bricks and stones were pelted at them during the drive, which was supposed to be carried out to raze illegal structures in Latifpura. Earth mover operators Sanjiv Kumar, Pardeep Kumar, Gopal Verma and Ranjit Singh today survived the attack by protesters at the site. They all had to take the earth movers to several meters away to save themselves.

Residents threw bricks and stones at these operators, leaving windscreens of two of the JCBs broken. One of the JCB operators, Sanjiv, got injured.

“We had just started the process, but the protesters got angry and attacked us,” said Sanjiv, who has been giving his services to the department for the past 22 years.

“We often get attacked with kerosene oil, bricks and other things. It is what we get in return of our duty,” he said.

Pardeep Kumar, who said a brick hurt his ankle, said 25-30 people followed us with stones and bricks in their hands. “I was shocked to see that no police official came to our rescue and no senior officer asked the protesters to stop,” he said.

He said he had been working with the MC for the past 23 years.

“We are outsourced employees and get Rs 8,200 per month and look at the kind of work we do,” Pardeep said, adding that they had not received this meagre income for three months.

“There is no security for us and we are always at the receiving end. ,” he said.

The earth mover operators today also complained about the matter to MC Commissioner Diprava Lakra. Lakra while talking to The Tribune on the matter said the demands of the machine operators would be looked at.