Code violation: PSPCL director shares stage with Akali leaders
Wednesday, 25/03/2015
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DHURI (SANGRUR): In a blatant violation of the model code of conduct, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) director (administration) Gurbachan Singh Bachi on Tuesday shared the stage with Shiromani Akali Dal leaders during the launch of the election campaign of Gobind Singh Longowal, the ruling party’s candidate for the Dhuri bypoll.
Bachi was present on the stage along with SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and other Akali leaders. A protégé of Dhindsa, he waved to the crowd and flashed the victory sign for lensmen during the SAD rally.
As per the model code, a government official cannot attend any political rally in a pollbound constituency.
When contacted, Bachi said he had gone to Dhuri to pacify the protesting linemen, a couple of whom had climbed the 66-KV line tower on Monday afternoon, forcing the PSPCL to disconnect the power for the entire night in some areas.
“I reached the venue of the SAD rally to brief the administration and the MP (Dhindsa) that the issue has been resolved. It was my mistake that I sat on the stage. However, I didn’t make any speech,” he added.
The protesters are up in arms against the state government and the PSPCL for not providing appointment letters to unemployed linemen.
Due to their protest, the supply of electricity on four grid lines was affected for a few hours.
The unemployed linemen who climbed the high-tension electricity tower have been identified as Jarnail Singh, a resident of Maana village, and Hitesh Kumar of Ferozepur district. Hitesh had attempted self-immolation during the chief minister’s rally in January 2015.
Members of the unemployed linemen union also staged a protest near the electricity tower and raised slogans against deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. They claimed that about 4,000 unemployed linemen were awaiting appointment letters.
On Tuesday evening, after the intervention of the administration, which arranged a meeting of the protesters with Paramjit Singh Sidhwan, political secretary to the deputy chief minister, both unemployed linemen came down from the tower.
