TET protesters block traffic at Ropar

Monday, 15/09/2014

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140915/punjab.htm#17

Ropar : Members of the Teacher Eligibility Test Pass Unemployed Union held the district administration to ransom for over five hours today. While more than 10 members of the union, including women, climbed up the railing of the head works bridge on the Sutlej carrying petrol in bottles and threatened to set themselves ablaze in case the police tried to disperse them, others blocked the traffic on the Ropar-Jalandhar highway by staging a dharna.

The protesters kept sitting on the road from 8 am to 1.30 pm, causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters. The police could not take action against those blocking the traffic apprehending suicide bid by their accomplices. Women protesters had threatened to jump into the river in case the police acted against them.

Ropar Superintendent of Police (D) HS Hundal reached the spot with heavy police force. He tried to persuade protesters to lift the blockade, but to no avail. The protesters wanted an assurance on jobs from the government.

Around 11 am, the protesters were joined by senior Congress leader and former MLA Rana KP Singh and district Congress president Harbhag Singh Desumajra. Declaring his and his party's support to the protesters, he appealed to them not to take law into their hands. He asked them to lift the blockade for the convenience of the public. The protesters refused to do so without getting a written assurance over a meeting with the minister concerned on the issue.

Union president Jasbir Singh said a merit list of 1,500 candidates had been already prepared against 4,901 vacancies advertised in February. However, they were not issued appointment letters, he said. The assurances in that regard by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Rural Development and Panchayats Minister SS Maluka had not made any difference, he said.

Around 1.30 pm, Ropar SDM Harsuhinder Singh Brar confirmed that Maluka would meet the protesters at Chandigarh tomorrow. It was only after that that the protesters agreed to lift the blockade.

Holding authorities to ransom

• More than 10 members of the Teacher Eligibility Test Pass Unemployed Union, including women, climbed up the railing of a bridge on the Sutlej carrying petrol
• Another group of the protesters blocked traffic on the Ropar-Jalandhar highway by staging a dharna
• The police could not act against those blocking the traffic as members of the first group of protesters threatened to set themselves ablaze in case a bid was made to disperse them.