Amritpal Singh's ancestral village wears a deserted look

Manmeet Singh Gill/ Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 21

Nearly 40 km from the holy city, Jallupur Khera was a discreet village until ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh landed here from Dubai last year and made it a sort of headquarters of the organisation formed by Deep Sidhu.

For the past many months, the village had emerged strongly on the political map. Hundreds of Amritpal’s supporters visited the village to meet him every day. However, the village wears a deserted look after the police crackdown on Amritpal and his supporters.

While the elderly in the village are not ready to talk about Amritpal, a teenage boy said, “Initially we thought that he is doing good work as he talked about drug problem and other vices but now, we do not feel the same way.”

He said opening a drug de-addiction centre was not a good idea as people feared them (drug addicts).

“We already have a number of drug addicts in the village. He brought 50 more drug addicts from other areas in the centre,” the boy said.

The drug de-addiction centre was being run temporarily from the hall of the village gurdwara. A nearby volleyball ground and a mini sports stadium was also used by inmates. Meanwhile, the construction work of the new building to house inmates has stopped after the police crackdown. While all drug addicts had left the village, a group of seven supporters of the fugitive Sikh preacher Amritpal still live at the centre. 

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