Our Correspondent Talwara (Hoshiarpur), August 17 Daily wage labourers of various villages of the Kandi region, who have been working on the Pong Dam for the last 25 to 30 years under Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) met local MP and Union Minister of State Som Prakash in Phagwara, demanding regular employment. Narrating their plight to the minister, they said they were hired by the BBMB management for around six to seven months in a year at the Pong Dam and for rest of the year, they were left unemployed. As there are not much avenues of employment in the backward Kandi area, they have to face much difficulty in earning their bread. Kalyan Singh, a leader of the BBMB daily wage labourers, recounted the story of himself and all his colleagues to the Union minister. After the meeting, he said: “The minister listened to our plight but despite that he tried to put an end to it by saying that he had already talked to BBMB Chairman DK Sharma, who did not agree. On our repeated requests, Som Parkash said he would discuss the matter again when when he would go to Delhi”. Labourers’ union president Harbhajan Singh said: “What kind of democracy is this where Union Minister obliges the BBMB chairman.” The laborers jointly stated that they had also met former Minister Vijay Sampla in the past, and he also had given somewhat similar response. “Tell us where we should go with demand for employment now,” said Kalyan Singh.

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