Cong burns ‘Chitta Ravan’ even as PM visits Ludhiana

Wednesday, 19/10/2016

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=166801&boxid=59209&uid=&dat=2016-10-19

Ludhiana : On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ludhiana, Congress workers burnt the ‘Chitta Ravan’ (drugs effigy) in the industrial town.

State Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh declared an all-out war against the “Badal-backed mafia”, saying with the burning of the ‘Chitta Ravan’, the stage was set for the “total annihilation of all the criminal forces in the state”.

Taking his party’s anti-drugs battle to the heart of Ludhiana -- the scene of the Dussehra eve attack on Congress workers allegedly by Shiromani Akali Dal activists, he hailed the blasting of the ‘Chitta Ravan’.

Amarinder had invited the party workers injured in the Dussehra eve attack to set the ‘Chitta Ravan’ on fire at the same place where the assault had taken place.

Accusing the Badals of “plunging the state into total anarchy”, with the “mafia ruling every part of life”, the state Congress chief said, “Badal has shrewdly used the last 10 years of his misrule in Punjab to drain the state of all its glory. Do not go by his innocent face. He (Badal) is an extremely shrewd man who knows how to fill his own pockets at the cost of the people of Punjab,” he alleged.

“Industries have fled the state, farmers are committing suicide, Dalits are being massacred, children and youth are falling prey to drugs,” Amarinder said, adding, “No section of the society is insulated from the greed and wrath of the Badals.”

“The autocratic Badals have seized control of all the vital functions of the state with its mafia controlling the drugs, sand, liquor, bus permits and a host of other businesses,” alleged the former chief minister.

Amarinder said if the Congress was voted to power in the state, he would get “every scam and criminal allegation against the Badals probed.”

Cong equally responsible for drug menace in Punjab: AAP

Chandigarh: Terming the burning of ‘Chitta Ravana’ (effigy symbolising drugs) by Congress a mere “political drama”, AAP on Tuesday alleged the party was equally responsible for Punjab’s growing drug menace.

“The Congress which has made the drug menace its poll plank in the upcoming Punjab elections is equally responsible for the problem,” AAP’s RTI wing co-convener Dinesh Chadha alleged in press release. He alleged the root of the menace spread during (former chief minister) Amarinder Singh’s regime from 2002 to 2007.

Backing his claims, Chadha said, “During Amarinder’s regime total cases registered under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were 3,545 in 2003; 3,226 in 2004; 4,464 in 2005; 4,861 in 2006; and in 2007 it increased to 6,111. Even the number of arrests, under the NDPS Act, during his regime was high. It is evident from the fact that in 2003 there were 3,545 arrests; 3853 in 2004; and 5,308 in 2005,” he claimed.