M A I N   N E W S

Majitha’s son pulls out
From Our Correspondent

AMRITSAR, Feb 3 — In a significant development, Mr Simerjit Singh Majitha, son of the late Parkash Singh Majitha, withdrew his nomination papers today on the last day of withdrawals, leaving five candidates in the fray for Majitha byelection.

Contesting candidates have been allotted the following symbols — Mr Rajmohinder Singh Majitha, SAD, ‘scales’, Mr Savinder Singh Kathunangal, Congress, ‘hand’, Col (Retd) J.S. Bal of the RRD ‘aeroplane’, Bibi Kartar Kaur, ‘railway engine’, and Mr Raghbir Singh ‘bucket’.

The District Magistrate has imposed Section 144 in the area.

Parties look towards migrant labourers for victory
From Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

TAPPRIAN (Majitha), Feb 3 — Even when gun-wielding militants ruled the area, not a single case of migration was reported from the Tapprian cluster comprising six villages. Now more than 15,000 migrant labourers, who have converted this interior of Majha into a mini Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are likely to play a key role in the outcome of the Majitha byelection.

When militants struck these villages twice in a big way, even then these labourers did not migrate to a safer place like several Sikhs. “Punjab is not our second home, but a permanent one. We have come to stay here. We will live and die here”, says Devi Dayal (70), who lost his two sons at the hands of militants.

Sarpanches and panches of these six villages have their roots either in UP or Bihar. All speak in chaste Punjabi. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress both have been giving special attention to Tapprian as its population can tilt the scales either way.

Residents of these villages told TNS that Mr R L Bhatia, Congress member of Parliament, and Mr Raj Mohinder Singh Majitha, candidate of the ruling party and a Rajya Sabha member, had allocated liberal funds to the village from their MP’s quota. As a result, both rival political parties have succeeded in winning local support.

In gross violation of the code of conduct, the district administration has been busy repairing roads, leading to these villages to woo the voters.

Mr Satpaul, a karyana merchant originally from Bihar, says earlier Tapprian villages were considered a stronghold of the Congress. However, now the SAD, the CPI and the CPM too have succeeded in creating vote banks.

A rough break-up of votes in these villages are Dayalpur Tapprian (800), Karnala (1500), Patalpuri Tapprian (2000), Khalaswala Dera (300), Ambawala (200) and Dhakki (250).

Mr Madan Lal, sarpanch of Dayalpura, says the migrants seldom visit their ancestral villages as most of their relatives have migrated to Tapprian. Interestingly, the land tilled by the migrant labourers was given to them on mortgage by the late Parkash Singh Majitha whose death has necessitated the byelection.

However, residents complain that successive governments have failed to give them jobs. Hardly any body has a government job. Only four youths out of a total of 15,000, have been recruited by the Army.

Though the Punjab Government has opened two primary schools in Tapprian, yet the dropout rate remains high. Mr Nirmal Singh, Headmaster, says due to illiteracy among parents, the students are of average intelligence.