Bathinda man booked for boating on waterlogged streets after rain

Police say he endangered safety of others, while former councillor argues the cops should have acted against the municipal corporation authorities for not doing enough to check waterlogging every monsoon rather than gunning for him

Bathinda: A day after a former councillor of Bathinda staged a symbolic protest by boating in the waterlogged streets of Parasram Nagar, police booked Vijay Kumar Sharma under Section 336 of the Indian Penal Code for endangering the life or personal safety of others.

Vijay Kumar Sharma, a former councillor and resident of Parasram Nagar, riding a pedal boat along with local residents on streets of the locality to highlight the problem of waterlogging due to lack of proper drainage every monsoon. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

Sharma took a few local residents, mostly excited children, along for a ride on his pedal boat on Tuesday to highlight the administration’s negligence in addressing the problem of waterlogging in the locality every monsoon.

According to the office of the Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP), Sharma has been charged with taking children on the boat who were not wearing safety gear, thus putting their lives at risk.

A case was registered at the Canal police station on Wednesday night.

The first information report (FIR) was registered on the basis of information received by the police from an unspecified source.

Canal police station station house officer Chamkour Singh said on Thursday that the matter is being investigated and no arrest has been made.

Sharma said he did not commit any crime as he had only evacuated children from a flooded corner of Parasram Nagar to safer places. “I was wearing a safety jacket when I took out the boat to highlight the misery of hundreds of households in the locality. Parasram Nagar is a low-lying zone and vulnerable to waterlogging. After Tuesday’s downpour, streets in the locality were submerged in waist-deep water,” he said.

The local leader is often dubbed as the Jaspal Bhatti of Bathinda after the Punjabi humourist for his innovative ways of protesting. Sharma, who is known for his political allegiance to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), said the police should have initiated legal action against the municipal corporation authorities for not doing enough to check flooding of streets rather than registering a case against him.