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Police use water cannon to quell AAP protest outside Punjab CM’s farmhouse
Punjab AAP chief Bhagwant Mann, leader of opposition Harpal Cheema among 223 booked for Covid-19 violations after protest against power shortage
Punjab Police on Saturday used water cannons to disperse Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers who had gathered to gherao the farm house of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh at Siswan near Chandigarh to protest against the ongoing power crisis in the state.
The protesting AAP workers, led by their Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann, raised slogans against the Congress government over the power shortage and tried to break the barricading following which the police resorted to cane-charge.
Police personnel were deployed in strength and multi-layered barricades were put up on the road leading to the chief minister’s farmhouse. As scores of AAP workers carrying party flags forced their way through the first layer of barricades and reached the second, police used water cannons to disperse them.
Later, the police booked 23 AAP leaders and 200 unknown supporters for flouting Covid-19 safety norms. The protestors had gathered in large numbers without wearing masks or observing social distancing.
Those named in the FIR include Bhagwant Mann, leader of opposition Harpal Cheema and MLAs Meet Hayer, Manjeet Singh Bilaspur, Kulwant Singh Pandori and Master Baldev Singh. They have been booked under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of Indian Penal Code besides Section 51A of the Disaster Management Act at the Mullanpur police station in Mohali.
Capt sleeping in palaces: Mann
Earlier, addressing the gathering, state unit chief and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said: “We have come to express the grief of 2.75 crore people of Punjab to chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who is sleeping in palaces and visited Punjab only six times since he became the CM.” He said the people of Punjab were buying the most expensive electricity in the country at ₹10 per unit, but were still not getting electricity.
“Instead, they have to leave their homes in the scorching heat for paddy sowing in the fields and hold dharnas on the roads,” said Mann.
He said that Captain Amarinder Singh as the Chief Minister should go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the issues of the farmers and get all the three black laws against farmers repealed.
Mann alleged the people of Punjab were suffering the consequences of a collusion between the Akalis and the Congress, because during the Akali rule, the Badal family had entered into deadly deals with the private power companies and now the Congress government has implemented these deals.
