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SAD chief, protesters face water-cannons outside Punjab CM Amarinder’s residence
Akali Dal leaders have also demanded Punjab health minister Balbir Sidhu’s resignation over the alleged vaccination scam and the Fateh Kit scam.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday was detained by the Punjab police in Siswan. The SAD chief along with several hundred party workers staged a protest outside chief minister Amarinder Singh’s residence demanding that the state government come clean on the allegations of corruption in the vaccination drive as well as in the disbursal of Fateh Kit to Covid-19 patients.
Akali Dal leaders have also demanded Punjab health minister Balbir Sidhu’s resignation over the alleged vaccination scam and the Fateh Kit scam. Akali Dal claimed that the Punjab government was profiting from the misery of the people.
Badal alleged that the state government was scamming the citizens of the state in the name of the Fateh kit. He also said that the vaccination drive is also being done inappropriately. “If a storm rises, Captain (Amarinder Singh) will be unable to stop. There is a scam in vaccination drive, there is scam in the disbursal of the Fateh Kit, there is scam in scholarship for the scheduled castes (SC) community and the land of farmers are also being acquired,” Badal said ahead of getting detained. Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) state president Jasvir Singh Garhi were also detained with Badal.
There were clashes between police and Akali Dal workers and Punjab police used water cannons to remove Akali Dal workers who were staging a protest.
The Fateh Kit contains medicines, consumables and oximeters which are given to Covid-19 positive patients. Akali Dal alleged that the kits were jacked up continuously from ₹800 to ₹1,400 per kit as the state government invited one tender after another despite the fact that the first tender was valid for a six-month period. The opposition party also claims the government was involved in a vaccination scam and alleged that it sold vaccines to private hospitals at huge margins and allowed private hospitals to charge beneficiaries steep premiums.
The protesters also sought justified compensation for the land of farmers which are being acquired for construction of highways and release of the pending amounts under the post-matric scholarship for scheduled castes (SC). Majithia said that an Akali worker suffered injuries due to police action. The police has initiated action against the three leaders under provisions of Disaster Management Act and are expected to be released on bail shortly.
(with inputs from Gurpreet Singh Nibber)
