They struggled hard to start life afresh
AMRITSAR: Daljit Kaur, 78, along with her husband Balwant Singh and two sons Gursher Singh, 54, and Bhagel Singh, 50, was forced to migrate to Amritsar after their house and factory in Birpara town of Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal were burnt down by an angry mob during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The family struggled hard to rebuild its business in Amritsar and is into manufacturing tea processing machinery. “An angry mob thronged our factory and set it ablaze. My father was tortured and Sikh workers were beaten up. The mob also torched our house, which was adjoining the factory, but we somehow managed to save ourselves,” recounts Gursher.
“My maternal uncle Banta Singh, who was also working in our factory, is still untraceable. My younger brother Bhagel Singh could not give his Class 10 board examination,” says Gursher.
“After coming to Amritsar, we started staying in a rented house. Later, my father sold the Jalpaiguri factory and house for just ₹5 lakh. After this, we got a tea machinery manufacturing unit by raising a loan. In 2000, we sold the unit, took bank loan and set up a new unit. After my father’s death in 2006, my younger brother Bhagel Singh returned to West Bengal. I and my mother worked 20 hours every day to run the factory.
Though we have rebuilt our business now, but we will never forget the loss of 1984,” said Gursehr, adding that they didn’t get any help from the government. ANIL SHARMA