E-Paper
Jobs to sons of MLAs: More families claim right to government compassion
A number of other families from Amritsar have claimed that they are also entitled to a government job or equivalent compensation on the same grounds as offered to the sons of MLAs
Amritsar With Captain Amarinder Singh-led state government offering government jobs to sons of two MLAs from terrorism-hit families on compassionate grounds, a number of other families have claimed that they are also entitled to a government job or equivalent compensation on the same grounds.
“My father Jogindar Pal was just 50 when militants shot him dead at his sweetmeat shop in a Tarn Taran market. I was a Class-11 student then. After his death, we faced extreme financial hardship and even left Punjab to save the rest of the family. We returned to Tarn Taran in 1992, under the Beant Singh government,” said Sumut Sondhi, secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.
He added, “I have been working in the Congress for long. The party has formed the government in Punjab thrice after that, yet my family has not been granted any relief. Despite several pleas, we were never compensated. If the state government has started compensating terrorism-hit families, it should not discriminate.”
Amritsar-based Gurpreet Singh said, “My father Abnashi Singh was kidnapped in 1980s and it is widely believed that militants killed him. He had served as the personal secretary of the then Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Despite this, the government never thought of giving us anything on compassionate grounds. Both my sons, Kunwar Partap Singh and Tej Partap Singh, are educated but jobless.”
In 1987, the world of two kid brothers was turned upside down when militants eliminated their parents, Darshan Singh and Gurmeet Kaur, “While my mother was killed, my father was taken to an unknown place to never return,” said Baljit, 36, of Muglani village near Khadoor Sahib in Tarn Taran district. His brother Kanwanjit Singh, 40, adds, “Militancy was at its peak. We understood the meaning of orphan then.”
Baljit added, “As we were children, we could not lodge a First-Information Report (FIR), nor secure death certificates of our parents. My maternal grandfather dropped us to a nearby religious dera that raised us. We are still living there and struggling to make ends meet. Over the years, we have submitted a number of applications to the government, seeking compensation or relief. We have been ignored.”
“It is people like us who actually deserve government jobs that are today being provided to sons of rich families of MLAs,” he added.
