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Akali Dal to protest outside Punjab CM’s house on June 15
The opposition party will demand the dismissal of health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and CBI probe into alleged irregularities in sale of vaccines and procurement of medical kits for Covid-19 patients
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal will lead a dharna outside Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s residence in Chandigarh on June 15 to demand the dismissal of health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into alleged irregularities in sale of vaccines and procurement of medical kits for Covid-19 patients.
The opposition party will also demand that land acquisition for national highways be done on market rates and displacement compensation be offered to the affected landowners.
Making the announcement on Wednesday, party spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said the vaccine and Fateh kit scams had shaken the conscience of Punjabis as the elected government and its members were profiting from their misery during the time of pandemic.
“The Congress government has admitted its fault that it sold vaccines to private hospitals at huge margins and in turn allowed them to charge a premium. Instead of dismissing the health minister, Capt Amarinder Singh is shielding him and trying to silence the opposition by registering cases against senior Akali leaders for holding a peaceful and democratic protest to demand justice in the case,” said Cheema.
Cheema said SAD president had also exposed the Fateh kit scam under which prices of medical kits, which were to be supplied to Covid patients, were jacked up repeatedly from ₹800 to ₹1,400 per kit by inviting one tender after another even as the first one was valid for six months.
He said Sukhbir would lead a dharna outside the CM’s residence on June 15, and will be joined by other senior leaders of the party, including core committee members, legislators, former legislators, constituency in-charges, district presidents and youth unit office-bearers.
On Monday, Sukhbir and 225 other party leaders and workers were booked for violating Covid-19 norms on the CM’s orders, after they had gathered for a protest near the health minister’s house in Mohali.
