Photo credit: WSJ
Villagers in Jampur, India, have barred migrants from roaming in the village after 9 pm.
Hindustan Times reports that the villagers initially barred the entry of migrants. There are five hundred migrants in the village of 2000 people. The villagers have said migrants who want to continue staying in the village must abide by specific instructions.
Multiple boards in the village display eleven instructions, including strict guidelines for migrants. This has prompted some migrants to leave the village, while some more are planning to follow suit.
Apart from the curfew, there are other instructions. They include mandatory police verification of migrants, no cigarette smoking, no chewing of tobacco and betel leaf to curb spitting on village roads, provision of dustbins by house owners while renting properties to migrants, a maximum of two migrants in a room, migrants roaming around in half attire and state the house owner will be accountable if any migrant commits a crime.
A villager, Sajjan Singh, accused migrants of roaming around half-naked and embarrassing female residents. Another villager, Gurmeet Singh, said the migrants, especially those from Uttar Pradesh, spit on roads outside the village gurdwara, which is a place of worship, thereby being disrespectful to their religion.
The area councillor, Govinder Singh Cheema, supports the villagers. He said, We are not against anyone, but we want them to maintain discipline. We have especially stressed police verification of migrants. Many people here are living without verification by police, and thus, we will now hold the house owners accountable, too.”
Although the board specifically mentions migrants about the 9 pm curfew, Cheema said they would apply it across the board because of villagers who created scenes at night after drinking alcohol.
The police and senior administration officers intervened in the matter. They questioned villagers’ authority to impose such diktats. The villagers responded that they would apply it across the board.
The police said they were ensuring peace and keeping a close watch on developments in the village.
