Tarn Taran Diary: On poll eve, Balmiki Colony residents want leaders to solve their problems

As many as 500 families of Balmiki Colony, Tarn Taran, have been a witness to elections of different institutions in the last 40 years but their troubles regarding civic amenities remain unresolved, other than eliciting customary assurances from politicians. The residents said in one voice said that leaders of political parties give them mere assurances when elections are at hand. They would be provided with pure drinking water, the park in the colony would get sports equipment, Kasur drain passing through the colony would be covered to avoid pollution, railing missed from the bridge on Kasur drain would be re-erected are among the assurances that residents of the colony get from political leaders who come calling. Kishan Lal, Narkesh Kumar, Narinder Kaur, Kashmir Kaur, Shiv Kumar and other residents of the colony said that the railing erected on the bridge over Kasur drain that passes through the colony has been missing since decades and the drain has been causing air pollution for long now. The residents said that their relatives do not come to see them on occasions of joy or even otherwise as the colony stinks. They said that as the bridge has no railing, many a time, residents and others have fallen down in the drain but the authorities have shown no concern at all. The people have been consuming contaminated water mixed with the sewerage because of which residents have had to suffer from various diseases. The park in the colony has no playing equipment and kids avoid coming here. The leaders give assurances but no one visits them once the polls are over, and they were forced to live in unhealthy conditions. The residents said that most of them were facing some health problem or the other. Once again, they are now waiting for the leaders to arrive to raise their issues before them but were sure that they would get nothing more than assurances. The Tonkklasharti Mohalla, Noordi road and other localities have been facing problems due to the condition of Balmiki Colony. 

Prolific short story writer comes with one more book

Simran Dhaliwal, a young and prolific short story writer from Patti and winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar and Dhahan award, has just had his fifth collection of short stories ‘Nagande’ published. ‘Nagande’ has a symbolic meaning in itself. It refers to the process of stitching quilts. Similarly, the writer talks about the need for quilting life. This book has been published by Caliber Publication, Patiala. Through eight stories in his new collection, Dhaliwal sheds light on small incidents of life. ‘Pair of Anklets’, ‘Flat No.13’, ‘Black Tea’ are some of the amazing stories in his latest collection. Recently, Simran Dhaliwal has been announced as the recipient of Jarnail Singh Sekha Award by Mahinder Sathi Yaadgar Manch, Moga. Simran was awarded with Sahit Akademi Yuva Award by Sahit Akademi, Delhi in 2015 and the Dhahan award for Punjabi literature in Canada in 2016. Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar is a literary honour which is annually conferred on young writers of outstanding works in 22 languages. He got the Dhahan award in 2015 for his book ‘Aas Aje Baaki Hai’ (Hope is yet there). This award, instituted by Burj Dhahan and his family, is conferred on writers to promote Punjabi literature. In terms of money, Dhahan is the biggest award. He received this award in 2016. Later, his book was translated into English and published in Canada under the title ‘That moment’. (Contributed by Gurbaxpuri)

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