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Sukhbir among 3 detained over protests against Punjab govt
Punjab Police also detained former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president Jasvir Singh Garhi near Siswan T-point, where barricades were put up.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal was on Tuesday detained while leading a protest outside Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s farmhouse at Siswan on the outskirts of Chandigarh.
Leading hundreds of party workers, Badal, the former deputy chief minister of Punjab, demanded the dismissal of state health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in the sale of vaccines and procurement of medical kits for Covid-19 patients.
The opposition party also demanded that land acquisition for national highways be done at market rates and displacement compensation be offered to the affected landowners, and the pending dues under the post-matric scholarship scheme for scheduled caste (SC) students be released at the earliest.
“If a storm rises, Captain (Amarinder Singh) will be unable to stop it. There is a scam in vaccination drive; there is a scam in the disbursal of Fateh Kits; there is a scam in scholarship for the SC community; and the land of farmers is also being acquired,” Badal said before being detained.
The chief minister rejected the opposition’s allegations on supply of vaccines as “politically motivated”and said there was no question of the state government making profits amid the pandemic, which it was battling hard to save lives.
“The state government has not indulged in any wrongdoing. Quick and unusual decisions have to be taken in an emergency war-like situation. All protocols were strictly followed and emergency rules were invoked to meet the crisis,” Singh said in a statement.
Punjab Police also detained former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president Jasvir Singh Garhi near Siswan T-point, where barricades were put up. The Akali Dal workers were joined by BSP activists as the two parties have forged an alliance in the run up to the 2022 assembly elections.
Clashes broke out, and police resorted to the use of water cannons to disperse the protesters. The three leaders were booked under bailable provisions of the Disaster Management Act. Majithia said that an Akali worker also suffered injuries during the police action.
The SAD has alleged that the price of Fateh Kits — medical kits containing medicines, consumables and oximeters that are given to Covid-19 patients — was jacked up repeatedly from ₹800 to ₹1,400 as the state government invited one tender after another even though the first was valid for six months.
The opposition party also claimed that the government was involved in a vaccination scandal in which it sold vaccines to private hospitals at huge profit margins while allowing the latter to charge patients high rates.
Addressing the protesters, Badal said that all Congress ministers involved in corruption will be booked if the SAD-BSP alliance is voted to power in 2022. “Balbir Sidhu was responsible for the drug de-addiction tablet scam, PPE kit scam, vaccine scam and Fateh Kit scam; Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was responsible for SC scholarship scam; and Sukhjinder Randhawa had indulged in the seed scam.”
Badal also alleged that the chief minister had extended patronage to the sand and liquor mafia that caused a loss in excise revenue worth ₹6,500 crore apart from illegally mining sand worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
