E-Paper
Bathinda weapon licence holders up in arms against mandatory training, fee for renewal
he certificate is mandatory and the one-day training has to be undergone at a shooting range near the Mahant Gurbanta Das School for Deaf and Dumb on the Goniana road
Bathinda Weapon licence holders in the district are up in arms against the local administration’s decision to levy ₹1,770 for undergoing a Firearms Safety Course certificate for renewal of licence. The certificate is mandatory and the one-day training has to be undergone at a shooting range near the Mahant Gurbanta Das School for Deaf and Dumb on the Goniana road. Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal had inaugurated the school in January.
The fee is to be deposited in the account of Bathinda District Rifle Association (BDRA) and the district has issued 33,000 arms licences. Bathinda is the only district in the state using this process of training in handling and using the weapon for renewal of licence. An ex-serviceman provides the training.
“The government can make the course mandatory for new licence-seekers, but the fee is not justified for renewal and is just an exercise to mint money. Applicants from rural areas are the most harassed as they have to spend on travel, stay and pay the fee as well,” said Gagandeep Singh, who has an arms licence since 2014 and has applied for renewal.
Even Punjab Rifle Training Association president says the move is aimed at ‘just minting money’.
“Money is being collected in the name of weapons training. The newly-formed BDRA is not affiliated either to the Punjab Rifle Shooting Association or the National Rifle Association,” claimed Pawanpreet Singh Dhillon, honorary secretary, Punjab Rifle Shooting Association.
Additional deputy commissioner Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu refuted this by saying that no affiliation was needed as the BDRA was just a training centre.
On the charging of the fee, the ADC said, “People have a licence for years, but are still not aware of relevant laws related to weapons and cannot even handle these safely. Hence, we decided to introduce training. We will also be charging a nominal fee from applicants of new arms licences.”
As part of the training, a classroom lecture is conducted to impart basic knowledge about laws related to fire arms and ways to safely handle a weapon. In the practicals, the applicant is given five bullets to aim and hit a target. The BDRA range has two shooting points, one for rifles at 25 metre, and another for a revolver or pistol at 10 metre.
