Stuck in Russian war zone, Amritsar youth desperate to return home

Neeraj Bagga

AMRITSAR, JULY 2

After the death of Tejpal Singh in the Russia-Ukraine war, the harrowing story of another local youth, Harpreet Singh, has emerged from the war zone. Employed with the Russian army, Harpreet (25) is deployed at Donetsk, a Ukrainian city in Russian control. Keen to return home, he is banking upon his friends and family for support.

All for a pucca house

• Harpreet’s father Narinder Singh, who plies a ‘rehra’, said marriage proposals for his sons did not fructify as they did not own a pucca house. It was only after he went to Russia that the family started constructing a house on 75 sq yards
• Harpreet’s brother Veer Singh, who works as a construction labourer, said the family did not have money to fund his air ticket

Hailing from Ghanupur Kale area of Amritsar, Harpreet went to Moscow to augment the family income — the motivation was to raise a pucca house to enable the marriage of his elder brother, and his own. For the semi-educated Harpreet, the promise of a handsome salary from the Russian army was motivation enough to fly to Moscow, with a friend, Daljit Singh, helping him reach there in December.

His father Narinder Singh, who plies a ‘rehra’, said marriage proposals for his sons did not fructify as they didn’t have a pucca house. It was only after Harpreet went to Russia that they started constructing a house on a 75 sq yard plot.

Before deciding to move abroad, Harpreet had worked in the city for 10 years, holding various jobs. He was employed as a boxing coach with a private college for about eight years, beginning with a monthly salary of Rs 3,000. When he left the job, he was drawing Rs 10,000 a month. Later, he was employed with a hotel. His family paid Rs 40,000 to get him employed as a messenger in a nationalised bank — but they lost the money because the offer turned out to be fake. Harpreet then lived in Delhi for six months, where he met Daljit Singh.

Contacted over the phone, Daljit said he was based in Mumbai and was in touch with Harpreet. He said since Harpreet was low on confidence, the Russian army did not immediately deploy him at the main war theatre, but the situation changed after one of his friends, Lovepreet Singh, managed to leave the Russian army to return home. Daljit said he had been trying hard to Harpreet’s safe return to India. “If need be, I would not hesitate to go to Russia to bring him back,” he said.

He said Harpreet was facing serious communication problems as he did not know any language other than Punjabi, which translators found tough to render in Russian.

Harpreet’s brother Veer Singh, who works as a construction labourer, said the family did not have the money to fund his air ticket. He said he frequently spoke to his brother, who was struggling to adjust to the severe cold and food there, for he was not fond of non-vegetarian food.

“The Russian army offers 14-day leave after six months to overseas soldiers, but even after the seven months, he was not granted it,” he added.