by Syed Ahmad Rufai
SRINAGAR: In two viral videos on social media, the bonhomie between Kashmiri and Punjabi people is on display with Gurpreet Singh and Rajwinder Singh of the latter state coming forward to compensate Shahid, a resident of Kashmir’s apple town Sopore, whose apples had been stolen when his truck turned turtle in Fategragh Sahib area of the state.
Rajwinder Singh from Patiala and Gurpreet Singh from Mohali gave a cheque of Rs 9.12 lakh to Shahid to compensate for the loss he suffered.
Scores of apples were stolen by villagers and passers-by after the fruit-laden truck turned turtle in Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab.
The truck was on its way from Srinagar to Bihar. The video of an apple cart being looted away went viral prompting Rajwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh to approach the Punjab Police for helping Shahid.
Rajwinder Singh said he could not believe that some people were busy stealing apple cartons instead of helping the truck driver who met with an accident.
“Punjabi people always help each other as well as anyone who comes to the state. We will always stand up in such cases,” he said.
“We wanted to give a good message of Punjabiyat to people,” said Rajwinder.
Truck owner Shahid, who has studied in Punjab, said that if there are people in Punjab who looted his truck then there are people like Gurpreet and Rajwinder. He thanked the two samaritans for giving him Rs 9.12 lakh cheque.
What is the great thing here. The driver was driving an overloaded truck or with high speed or bad tyres. Why he should be rewarded for his negligence?