A small village in Punjab’s Kharar sub-district has issued rules restricting the movement and behaviour of migrant workers residing in the area.
The Jandpur village in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district, home to a few hundred migrants, has displayed boards listing 11 instructions that migrants must follow to continue staying in the village. One of the rules prohibits migrants from being seen outside their homes after 9 pm.
Other guidelines include mandatory police verification of migrants, a ban on smoking cigarettes, chewing tobacco and betel leaf to curb spitting on village roads, and a requirement for house owners to provide dustbins when renting property to migrants.
The list also restricts more than two people in a room, bans migrants from roaming around in half-attire, and holds house owners accountable if any migrant indulges in illegal activities or harms villagers. Villagers have accused migrants, particularly those from UP and Bihar, of spitting on roads outside the village gurdwara, which they find disrespectful to their religion. The diktat has prompted some migrants to leave the village, while more are planning to follow suit.
The area councillor, Govinder Singh Cheema, claims the rules are not targeting migrants exclusively but will be applied across the board, including to villagers who create a ruckus at night after drinking alcohol. However, after the Kharar police and senior administration officers intervened and questioned the villagers’ authority to impose such diktats, the villagers agreed to apply the rules equally to everyone.
Kharar DSP Karan Sandhu said that the police are ensuring peace and closely monitoring the developments in the village, according to Hindustan Times. This incident follows a similar case in Mundo Sangatiyan village, Mohali, where residents passed a resolution barring migrants from residing in their village, citing theft incidents allegedly involving migrant children.
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