Won’t spare those who ordered firing at protesters: CM

Tuesday, 29/01/2019

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MEHRAJ (BATHINDA) : Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said the state government will not spare those who ordered firing on anti-sacrilege protesters at Faridkot’s Behbal Kalan in 2015 that left two persons dead.

Addressing a gathering at his ancestral village Mehraj in Bathinda district to mark the launch of the third phase of the farm debt waiver programme,

Amarinder said the SIT is doing its work and anyone found guilty of the killings — be it politician or officials — will be punished.

In this phase of the waiver scheme, ₹97 crore debt (from cooperative banks) of 18,308 small farmers of Bathinda and Mansa districts, who own land from 2.5 to 5 acres, will be waived.

The CM’s remark comes a day after the Punjab Police’s special investigation team (SIT) arrested former Moga senior superintendent of police (SSP) Charanjit Singh Sharma in connection with the 2015 firing incident. He lashed out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for failing to bring the culprits to book and not accepting the recommendations of its own commission set up to probe the incident. The arrested former SSP must have been following orders from someone whom the SIT will identify, he added.

Referring to former CM Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar said the cop (Sharma) merely implemented the orders.

The CM claimed that there was a sharp decline in the number of farmer suicides and drug trade since his party came to power in 2017.

He asked the BJP-led central government to implement in toto the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission to bring the agriculture sector out of crisis. He said the Punjab government would soon come up with a debtwaiver scheme for farm labourers also.

Amarinder, who visited Mehraj for the first time after becoming CM in 2017, announced ₹28 crore for development works in the village.

“Of a total of 61,000 km rural link roads in the state, about 16,000 km is being repaired at ₹2,000 crore, with the completion likely by June 30 this year. We are working fast on the path to development,” he said.

Cooperation and jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa lashed out at Sukhbir for saying that Punjab did not see development during the Congress government’s tenure.

“Our government has done away with red tape and loot of the state’s assets, which was rampant under the Akali rule.”

Power minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar said the state will soon amend rules to ensure that weaker sections of the society continue to get free power up to 250 units per month.