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Ludhiana: MP Bittu, 60 others booked for locking MC office
The others who were booked on Wednesday are former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, district Congress president and former MLA Sanjay Talwar and former deputy mayor Sham Sunder Arora
A day after congress workers put a lock on the main gate of the municipal corporation building near clock tower, the Ludhiana police lodged an FIR against member of parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu and 60 others.
The others who were booked on Wednesday are former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, district Congress president and former MLA Sanjay Talwar and former deputy mayor Sham Sunder Arora. Rest of the protesters are yet to be identified.
Bittu along with Congress workers had on Tuesday put a lock on the main gate of the municipal corporation building protesting against the Punjab government’s “failure” to provide ₹1,000 to every woman of Punjab, and failure in providing ₹2,500 per month pension to widows.
Reacting to the development on Thursday, Bittu alleged that there is five-tier corruption going in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government, which involves the political masters sitting in Delhi to the halqa incharges in the wards.
Bittu took up the matter on ‘X’ saying “Punjab government is not strong enough to take action on Haryana Police for shooting and killing our farmers, but registered an FIR on me and my colleagues for protesting against the government very next day.”
The FIR has been filed on the statement of Amit Kumar, a watchman at the municipal corporation.
Amit stated that Ashu and other Congress workers barged in the office after giving him a push and later they put a lock on the gate.
He alleged that the Congress workers stopped him to discharge his government duty and visitors had also suffered during the protest.
ASI Joginder Singh, who is investigating the case, said that a case under sections 353, 186 absb149 of the IPC has been lodged against Bittu and others. No arrest has been made so far.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference Bittu stated that AAP is trying to suppress the right of common man to protest against the failures of the government by registration of FIRs under political pressure.
Bittu along with Ashu and Talwar asked “what was wrong in locking doors of the corporation which is den of corruption?”
“We had taken up a public cause but their political masters in Delhi became upset because of our protest and ordered FIR against us. Interestingly, the main complainant in the FIR was nowhere seen at the protest site, it’s just pressure tactics by the government to entangle us in the false FIR,” said Bittu.
Bittu stressed that we will not stop our protest due to these tactics of the government and instead “we will lock the offices where the common people are facing harassment and corruption due to cancellation of blue cards, installation of electricity meters, GLADA office, civil hospital, BDO office, BDPO office, licencing authority and others. Law and order is on the verge of collapsing. We will not spare even the police stations.”
Bittu also asked the administration how the local MLAs broke the sealing of the buildings under their nose. “What action has been taken against them? Local MLAs are running mafia in the city. Why hasn’t any FIR been registered against the MLAs responsible for re-opening of the sealed buildings?
