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Ludhiana | Ex-servicemen protesting scrapping of Guardians of Governance Scheme
Seeking an apology from the government and Sarari, the protesters organised a protest march from Jagraon Bridge to mini secretariat and submitted a memorandum with the Ludhiana deputy commissioner’s office.Guardians of Governance was a flagship programme of the previous Captain Amarinder Singh government to hire ex-servicemen to monitor government programmes
Livid over scrapping of the Guardians of Governance (GoG) scheme by the Punjab government and alleged derogatory remarks made by cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari, a number of ex-servicemen staged a protest outside the mini secretariat on Thursday and burned an effigy of chief minister Bhagwant Mann .
Seeking an apology from the government and Sarari, the protesters organised a protest march from Jagraon Bridge to mini secretariat and submitted a memorandum with the deputy commissioner’s office.
District in-charge of GoG, Colonel HS Kahlon (retired), said,” The minister accused us of failing to work despite collecting honorarium from the government, which is a complete disregard to services provided by us to the state and public. Over 4,300 ex-army personnel were covered under the scheme and we have been working for the betterment of the state, especially financially-weaker sections and rural belts. We used to supervise MGNREGA and other state and Union government schemes and highlighted issues of the public before authorities. The minister and the government should publicly apologise, otherwise we will continue protesting.”
GoG was a flagship programme of the previous Captain Amarinder Singh government to hire ex-servicemen to monitor government programmes.
Major tragedy averted
A major tragedy was averted after flames engulfed a protester when the effigy was being set on fire. The incident took place when one of the protesters was pouring petrol on the effigy and the other set it ablaze. No major injury was reported.
