Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A year after three Indian truck drivers working for Kuwait and Gulf Links (KGL) Transport were taken hostage in Iraq, the company is back in Punjab, looking for recruits. And representing them once again is Soni Placement Agency, which got one of the hostages, Antaryami, a job with KGL in December 2003.
With KGL off the government watchlist, over 300 people from all over Punjab waited patiently at Nangal today to attend the interviews. Says one of them Jasbir Singh, a resident of Mukerian: ‘‘Life or death does not matter. I am a 30-year-old with two children, I need money. And after driving a truck on Punjab roads for seven years, I know I can’t make enough to sustain my family here. Iraq or Kuwait don’t matter to me. I am ready to take any risk for a good pay package.’’
A good pay package here means Rs 15,000 a month, says Jasbir, who earns Rs 5,000 now.
Gurdaspur’s Lakhwinder Singh, 26, another driver, says, ‘‘Why should I keep slogging to death all my life? It’s better to die there than here.’’
It’s not the young alone who are ready to risk their necks, 42-year-old Kundan Singh says he will never stop trying for a job in Kuwait.
Pradeep Soni, owner of Soni Placement Agency, sought to downplay the Iraq angle, saying that they were conducting interviews strictly for Kuwait. And so overwhelming is the response that the company, which conducted recruitments in Hoshiarpur last week, is planning to go there again on July 21.
When contacted, Loknath, Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur, said he was not aware of any such interviews. ‘‘Unless we get a complaint, we have no reason to interfere,’’ he said.
