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UT police thwart Congress’ march to Punjab assembly, detain workers
The party workers gathered outside the Congress Bhawan here and tried to march towards the assembly on the first day of the budget session, but were stopped by heavy police deployment and barricades.
Police used water cannons and detained hundreds of Punjab Congress leaders and workers on Friday after they tried to force their way through barricades to ‘gherao’ the state assembly as part of a protest against the AAP over the state government’s alleged failure to fulfil its promises, deteriorating law and order situation and the state’s economy.
The party workers gathered outside the Congress Bhawan here and tried to march towards the assembly on the first day of the budget session, but were stopped by heavy police deployment and barricades.
Addressing the protesters, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that the AAP government had failed on multiple fronts. “The state debt had crossed ₹4 lakh crore, and the government was spending heavily on advertisements while neglecting infrastructure development. The AAP’s promise to provide ₹1,000 monthly aid to women has also not been fulfilled,” Warring said.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also addressed the gathering and criticised the state government over governance and the state’s economy.
When the protesters tried to break through the barricades to proceed towards the vidhan sabha, police used water cannons to disperse them. Stopped from proceeding towards the assembly, Warring and other party workers sat on the road in protest and were later detained by police.
Chandigarh Police officials denied any harsh action against the protesters and said water cannons were used only to disperse the crowd. According to the police, around 200 workers were detained and later released.
