Bathinda, February 6
The protest by the AIE/EGS teachers took a serious turn today and threw up several heart-rending sights after one of the protesting teachers lost her infant daughter to illness. Rather than cremating the infant, the teachers carried the body while they took out a protest march through the busiest markets and blocked traffic at crucial intersections in the city.
Kiranjeet Kaur (31) from Bambiha Bhai village in Moga, who has been sitting on dharna at the Subhash Park near Gol Diggi since the wee hours on Sunday, was inconsolable as she wailed over the body of her daughter Gurnoor Kaur, who breathed her last around 2 am at the Civil Hospital.
Poverty a curse
Fighting back his tears, Gurnoor’s father, Taranjit Singh (32), said, “I supported my wife when she came here to sit on dharna. I am a painter by profession and had borrowed money from relatives and friends to help Kiranjeet pursue ETT course in the hope that she would get a permanent job. But the state government dashed all our hopes.”
“Many would wonder why we brought along our daughter to the dharna in the cold weather. But not many can understand what poverty can make a person do. It is a curse to be poor,” added Taranjit, who came to Bathinda on Sunday evening when Gurnoor fell ill.
He added that they had left their five and a-half-year daughter with her already ailing grandmother in Moga. “I’m a daily wager and work from morning till evening. My mother would not have been able to take care of two children in the absence of their mother,” he added.
Doctors blamed
One the union leaders, Gagan Kaur, accused the doctors of misleading them into believing that the child was improving under treatment. “The doctors at the Civil Hospital told us that her condition was improving and that they would keep her in the hospital for 15 days. Even when we complained that the child was having some respiratory problem, the doctors didn’t tell us the real problem,” she said.
“We had lost one of our teachers, Kiranjit Kaur, when she committed suicide by setting herself on fire. With the death of the child, a part of Kirandeep has also died. The state government is responsible for these deaths and will have to pay heavily for this attitude,” said another protester.
Family not ready for cremation
After members of several other unions came and expressed their solidarity with the teachers, it was time for politics over the body. It was deeply distressing to see how the protesting teachers carried the body with them while they took out protest rally through Dhobi Bazaar, Mall Road before blocking traffic at Hanuman Chowk, Fauji Chowk and the bus stand.
“We had suggested to the family that it was time to cremate the body but they decided otherwise. If we cremate the child, the administration will lathicharge us and throw us out of the city,” said another leader Avtar Singh.
Negotiations still on
Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, who convened a meeting with the teachers, told the Bathinda Tribune that the negotiations were on till late in the evening.
“They have raised their own demands and we are negotiating to reach a common ground. We had offered the best of medical facilities to the child when she took ill and she succumbed to multi-vitamin deficiency. We are wondering why they are not cremating the body,” he said.
The protest by the AIE/EGS teachers took a serious turn today and threw up several heart-rending sights after one of the protesting teachers lost her infant daughter to illness. Rather than cremating the infant, the teachers carried the body while they took out a protest march through the busiest markets and blocked traffic at crucial intersections in the city.
Kiranjeet Kaur (31) from Bambiha Bhai village in Moga, who has been sitting on dharna at the Subhash Park near Gol Diggi since the wee hours on Sunday, was inconsolable as she wailed over the body of her daughter Gurnoor Kaur, who breathed her last around 2 am at the Civil Hospital.
Poverty a curse
Fighting back his tears, Gurnoor’s father, Taranjit Singh (32), said, “I supported my wife when she came here to sit on dharna. I am a painter by profession and had borrowed money from relatives and friends to help Kiranjeet pursue ETT course in the hope that she would get a permanent job. But the state government dashed all our hopes.”
“Many would wonder why we brought along our daughter to the dharna in the cold weather. But not many can understand what poverty can make a person do. It is a curse to be poor,” added Taranjit, who came to Bathinda on Sunday evening when Gurnoor fell ill.
He added that they had left their five and a-half-year daughter with her already ailing grandmother in Moga. “I’m a daily wager and work from morning till evening. My mother would not have been able to take care of two children in the absence of their mother,” he added.
Doctors blamed
One the union leaders, Gagan Kaur, accused the doctors of misleading them into believing that the child was improving under treatment. “The doctors at the Civil Hospital told us that her condition was improving and that they would keep her in the hospital for 15 days. Even when we complained that the child was having some respiratory problem, the doctors didn’t tell us the real problem,” she said.
“We had lost one of our teachers, Kiranjit Kaur, when she committed suicide by setting herself on fire. With the death of the child, a part of Kirandeep has also died. The state government is responsible for these deaths and will have to pay heavily for this attitude,” said another protester.
Family not ready for cremation
After members of several other unions came and expressed their solidarity with the teachers, it was time for politics over the body. It was deeply distressing to see how the protesting teachers carried the body with them while they took out protest rally through Dhobi Bazaar, Mall Road before blocking traffic at Hanuman Chowk, Fauji Chowk and the bus stand.
“We had suggested to the family that it was time to cremate the body but they decided otherwise. If we cremate the child, the administration will lathicharge us and throw us out of the city,” said another leader Avtar Singh.
Negotiations still on
Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Kamal Kishore Yadav, who convened a meeting with the teachers, told the Bathinda Tribune that the negotiations were on till late in the evening.
“They have raised their own demands and we are negotiating to reach a common ground. We had offered the best of medical facilities to the child when she took ill and she succumbed to multi-vitamin deficiency. We are wondering why they are not cremating the body,” he said.
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