Kartarpur: I have already served this area for 8 years as cop, says Balkar Singh

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, March 11

Having won the Kartarpur (Reserved) seat in the Assembly poll results of which were declared on Thursday, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Balkar Singh (59) on Friday said he was set to serve the residents of the area, who had blessed him with victory in his first election. Balkar has defeated sitting Congress MLA Chaudhary Surinder Singh by a margin of 4,574 votes.

Balkar retired as Deputy Commissioner of Police from Jalandhar in January last year and had joined the AAP in June. Of the 32 years of his service in the Punjab Police, he says he was directly dealing with the residents of Kartarpur for almost eight years and is thus well-acquainted with the area.

“I was Kartarpur SHO in my initial years of service. I remained on the post for nearly a year. I also got posting as SHO Sadar in Jalandhar for more than three years and hence many areas of my constituency, including Lambra, Authaula, Kotla etc, that time fell under my jurisdiction. I also remained posted as Kartarpur DSP for nearly a year. For two years, I remained SP (D) again during which this area was under my supervision. So, in a way I personally knew almost half of the population and got to know the other half since six months of my working here as the halqa in-charge for the party,” he said.

Even as it is a general perception that it is not easy for the police officials to get votes since they are usually believed to be tough task masters, Balkar defied the common perception. “I was never tough with the general masses. I was tough only against the criminal and anti-social elements. In my entire eight-year tenure in the area, I never registered any false case against anyone under any political pressure. Even if there were family or property disputes, I had always tried the warring parties settle the matter between themselves instead of hurriedly getting the FIR lodged. So, my working certainly helped me. People used to welcome me with open hearts wherever I went,” he said.

It was in Kartarpur that party supremo Arvind Kejriwal had started the Rs 1,000 per month guarantee scheme. Balkar said: “All flagship guarantee schemes that the party had promised will surely be fulfilled in the coming days. Even the power guarantee scheme received a very good response in my area and I personally got 33,000 cards filled from the people here, which was the second highest in entire Punjab from any constituency.”

The retired cop has assured the residents of a big positive change in the area. “The way people have brought us in for the required ‘badlav’ in Punjab, I as a committed soldier of the party will try to fulfil all aspirations of the masses,” he said.

Balkar Singh, 59
Party: AAP
Constituency: Kartarpur (SC)
Votes polled: 41,830
Vote margin: 4,574
Vote percentage: 33.47
Defeated: Chaudhary Surinder Singh, Congress MLA

Priorities

Some local specific issues that need to be dealt with include setting up a bus stand, providing a good sewer system, good internal roads and getting more doctors for the area. These issues will always be on my priority list. Other than that, I will keep on getting directions from the party on common facilities to be given to the people, which surely will be related to providing good education and health on the lines of the Delhi model as has already been promised.