Will clank thalis if administration fails to help: Jalandhar villagers

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 29

Amarjit Kaur from Bhakkhu Nangal carries a crying, ailing baby in her hand, her husband has fever and cough. She says when the family went for a treatment at a hospital recently they were turned away. Kaur says, “Sada kamm band ho gaya. (work has stopped) I don’t even have Rs50. We urgently need food. Koi davai vi nahi dinda (no one gives medicine either),”.

Amarjit, a Kartarpur resident and the sole breadwinner of the family who was rendered immobile due to a recent surgery, says he has no food to feed his family.

At Fateh Jalal village, a colony of 150 migrants, makes do with a diet of boiled potatoes. Residents of some villages mobilised by the Pendu Mazdoor Union and the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee have now given a call for March 31. They say they will clank thalis and other utensils on their rooftops, if they are not provided with groceries and ration.

At the colonies near Chogitti and Domoriah Bridge, migrants line up with outstretched hands whenever someone comes to disburse rations. Some villages complain while the administration provided them rations several times, it’s not enough.

Mangal, a panch at the Fazalpur village, says, “We are several families here mostly from Bihar. The police came and gave ration to us a week ago. Yesterday some people distributed food. The ration will last a week more at the most. Teams can’t come in daily we also understand that. We are all daily wagers and have lost livelihoods due to the lockdown. We need food to last during the lockdown or we will starve. Our homes are all here we have nowhere to go.”

Maninder, 60, a resident of the Fateh Jalal village says, “Allo ubaal ke kha rahe hain (we are boiling potatoes for food). No one has given us ration any day. We need food to survive. There are 50 to 60 children and 40 to 50 women here. We used to get Rs 300 to 350 a day. Now jobs are gone. We request the administration to provide us with food.”

Makkhan Singh and Daato, both over 70, of Ghug village have run out of ration. Both are diabetic, and Makkhan Singh also has high BP. Dato said she bought 5 kg atta some days ago for Rs 28 which is about to end now. There is nothing more to eat. “Davai daru, kujh na pucho. (Don’t ask of food and drink), money has ended, we don’t know where from we will eat. I can’t work either. Please ask the government to give us food or money. We have nothing,” Dato said.

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