Freed, but wait on for govt jobs

For him, it’s been a return to the roots. ‘‘You know what I do these days? Nothing besides farming,’’ he laughs. ‘

A job, which the Himachal government had promised them, remains a dream. Antaryami’s father, Ram Murthy, who had personally met the President to seek his help, says the Government seems to have forgotten about the whole incident. ‘‘I think it was wrong on our part to expect the Government to offer us a job on its own. We will be meeting some officials shortly,’’ he says.

Some 30 km away, Tilak Raj, too, has taken to farming. Flanked by wife Promila Devi and three children, he narrates how debt forced him to venture out to Kuwait. ‘‘I had no clue that the company would force us to go to Iraq. The agent had taken Rs 65,000 from me. I confronted him after my return, but what’s the use,’’ he asks.

His debt problem remains. A job would help but the government is yet to offer it. ‘‘I even went and met the local MLA, Mukesh Agnihotri, who promised me some action, but I am still waiting,’’ he adds.

Besides farming, both Antaryami and Tilak are also playing counsellors to their village youth. ‘‘There are many who want to go abroad to earn a living. I dissuade them from doing so by asking them if they would choose death over life,’’ says Tilak Raj.

In Ropar, Sukhdev Singh, too, is doing the same, but with a sinking heart. Unlike the other two, his debt is mounting, and he has no job promise to fall back on. ‘‘We sold off whatever land we had to send Sukhdev abroad. Now in the absence of any income, and a debt of Rs 5-6 lakh, we might have to even sell off our house,’’ rues his sister-in-law Karamjit Kaur, adding how Sukhdev has met officials for a job but to no avail.