E-Paper
Seeking ration for hungry families, women knock at Zirakpur MC door
The women, who live in Sukna colony which comprising mostly of daily wagers, say they are eating one meal a day as their ration is drying up
“We are eating just one meal a day as we are running out of ration,” said Sukhi Devi of Sukna colony in Zirakpur, who violated the curfew to get some food for her hungry family.
She along with about 50 other women of her colony collected outside Zirakpur’s municipal council office, in violation of the curfew, to demand ration. The women gathered at the MC office after they heard about ration being distributed there.
Sukhi Devi, a daily wager doing construction work, has been out of work for about a month now. “No one has come to provide ration in our colony. How do we feed our children as we have no money?” she asked.
Sukna colony is located near Zirakpur MC office where most residents are daily wagers. They are picked up from labour chowk in Zirakpur for work at a number of construction sites. But the curfew put an end to their earning.
Bimla, another resident of the colony, said, “Milk and vegetable vendors are coming to the colony everyday, but not even once have authorities supplied us with ration. Khilaye kya jab na atta hai na chawal (what should we eat when there is no flour or rice?”
Saroj Bala said “They distributed ration here, but why are they not giving us some? The chakkis in the area are also closed so even if we have grains we can’t use them. If you can’t give us ration, at least allow chakkis to operate so we can have some flour.”
However, Mohali additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Aashika Jain said that ration has been distributed across the district. “I will have their claims verified and only after that we will help. But they should also have to face action if their claims are false ,” Jain said.
