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Govt jobs to Cong MLAs’ sons: Protesting LIP worker attempts self-immolation
Panic gripped the mini secretariat when Narinderpal Singh, who was carrying a can of kerosene, poured the highly flammable liquid on himself and attempted to immolate himself.
A 52-year-old Lok Insaaf Party worker who was protesting against the appointment of the sons of two Congress MLAs to government jobs on “compassionate grounds” attempted to self-immolate himself in front of deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma’s office on Friday.
Panic gripped the mini secretariat when Narinderpal Singh, who was carrying a can of kerosene, poured the highly flammable liquid on himself and attempted to immolate himself. Luckily, heavy police force had been deployed outside the mini secretariat and alert cops detained him and a few other LIP workers.
Narinderpal said sheer hopelessness that had accrued after years of struggling to get a government job had led him to take the extreme step. “Both my grandfather and father are freedom fighters and my son holds an Industrial Training Institute diploma, but despite tall promises no government has offered us a job.”
Clutching resumes of unemployed youths and his grandfather’s credentials, Narinderpal said, “The government is ignoring the families of freedom fighters and appointing MLAs sons to gazette posts, which is unfair.”
The Salem Tabri resident was whisked away to the Division Number 5 police station. Sub-inspector Kulbir Singh, in-charge of the Kochar Market police post said, “We deterred Narinderpal from taking such an extreme step. We provided him with a fresh set of clothes and some medical treatment before releasing him.”
An insult to injury : LIP leader
The protesting LIP leaders had gathered at the mini-secretariat to handover the resumes of at least 400 unemployed persons to the deputy commissioner and protest against the state government’s highly controversial decision.
Randhir Singh Sibia, an LIP leader, said, “The state government had come to power on the poll plank that it will provide employment to the youth. Not only has the government failed on the front in the last four-and-a-half years, but to add insult to injury it has appointed sons of Congress MLAs to high posts to appease the said MLAs.”
The Congress-led state government had tweaked the rules to provide jobs to the sons of Qadian (Gurdaspur) MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa and Ludhiana north MLA and former minister Rakesh Pandey.
Bajwa’s younger son Arjun Partap Singh Bajwa was offered the post of inspector in the Punjab Police, and Pandey’s middle son Bhisham Pandey was offered the job of naib tehsildar.
