Ex-servicemen protest scrapping of GoG scheme in Punjab

The state-level event organised to mark the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi at the Saragarhi Memorial in Ferozepur was punctuated by a massive protest by ex-servicemen over the scrapping of the Guardians of Governance (GOG) scheme

The state-level event organised to mark the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi at the Saragarhi Memorial in Ferozepur was punctuated by a massive protest by ex-servicemen over the scrapping of the Guardians of Governance (GOG) scheme on Monday.

A large number of ex-servicemen marched towards the venue with black strips on their red turbans to mark their protest over the scrapping of the GoG scheme, a flagship programme of previous Captain Amarinder Singh government to hire ex-servicemen to monitor government programmes (HT PHOTO)

A large number of ex-servicemen marched towards the venue with black strips on their red turbans to mark their protest over the scrapping of the GoG scheme, a flagship programme of previous Captain Amarinder Singh government to hire ex-servicemen to monitor government programmes. Due to the protest, chief guest cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari was delayed by an hour. As soon as Sarari arrived the protesters intensified their sloganeering and tried to prevent him from entering the venue.

While Ferozepur senior superintendent of police Surendra Lamba tried to pacify the protesters, they refused to back down. Meanwhile, Sarari kept waiting in his car for nearly 40 minutes. Later, the minister and his convoy were escorted to an alternative entrance, the route to which is under the supervision of the army.

Sarari attended the event for almost an hour while policemen remained on their toes.

Cong leaders slam AAP govt

Chandigarh Congress Legislature Party (CLP) deputy leader and MLA Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal on Monday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for scrapping the ‘Guardians of Governance’ (GoG) scheme. The Congress leader said the AAP government’s decision had rendered 4300 ex-servicemen jobless.

“Instead of providing jobs to people, they (AAP) have started taking away jobs. They are giving a false excuse that GoGs did not work properly,” he said in a statement, accusing the new government of doing away with their services only because the “guardians of governance” concept was brought by the previous Congress government for betterment of villages allocated to them. “Such hate politics will not do any good to the government. They will have to pay the price of such anti-people policies,” he said.