KGL on hiring spree in Punjab

HOSHIARPUR: Remember the Iraq hostage drama last year when three Indian truckers working with Kuwait-based KGL Trucking were taken as captives by an Iraqi militant group? Well, that has not deterred young men from appearing as candidates for the recruitment drive launched by the very company in the towns of Punjab.
Though company sources and agents maintain that drivers are required to fulfill demand in Kuwait, the fact that most of them will be pushed into Iraq to carry US supplies cannot be ignored.
A young man who has been selected told TOI on condition of anonymity that unofficially he has been told to go to Iraq. Contrary to claims of agents that they only charge Rs 5000 as per government norms, aspirants who had assembled at the Army Ground opposite the Services Club on Tuesday admitted to paying huge sums ranging from Rs 70,000 to one lakh.
Denying that the drivers were being recruited for Iraq, Baldev Singh, owner of Mumbai-based Manpower Company Balsons International, claimed that the entire demand was for Kuwait. He maintained that KGL has shown a huge demand for trailer drivers through a Kuwaiti company, Al-Mahager, and there were other agents conducting recruitments in Jalandhar and Chandigarh.
Balwinder Singh, speaking to TOI as he got down from a trailer after displaying his driving skills, said he was jobless in Punjab. "When the end has to come, it will!" he said, resigning himself to his fate.
Twenty-six-year-old Ranjit Singh said he has been offered Rs 25,000 per month, money that he could not dream of as a driver here. He displayed confidence in the agents and said his brother was already plying trailers to Iraq.