Ravi Dhaliwal
RESIDENTS of this Assembly seat remember their MLA Fateh Jung Bajwa for being among them when it mattered the most. That is when Covid was at its peak. The legislator’s NGO was at the forefront of distributing masks and sanitisers when the virus was spreading its wings. The common refrain among the masses is “a friend in need is a friend indeed”. Observers say such things definitely do weigh on the minds of the voters when taking a call on which party to vote for.
However, the seat has its own set of problems. The 150-year-old world famous Egerton Woollen Mills is on the verge of closure. Employees have not been paid their wages for months. Every week they turn up at the MLA’s residence. On his part, the legislator cannot intervene directly because the solution to all its problems lies with the Ministry of Textiles. Fateh says he has taken up the issue with the Centre.
Qadian is a sugarcane-rich belt and hence farmers demand the setting up of a sugar mill. Then there is the vexed issue of completing the Beas-Qadian rail link. MP Partap Bajwa made efforts to get the link operative but politicking killed all his well laid out plans. The MLA says the project could not be completed as villagers are not willing to part way their land.
Qadian: Missing rail link to development
{$excerpt:n}
