Police manhandle AAP leaders on way to ‘gherao’ finance minister’s office
Ashok Verma
Bathinda, June 22, 2020: Senior leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab on Wednesday staged a massive protest in Bathinda district against the Captain Amarinder Singh government’s decision of doling out hundreds of acres of prime land of the plant to land mafia through PUDA, instead of rebuilding it. Others who were a part of the protest included convener of ‘Bijli Andolan’ Meet Hayer, state core committee chairman Principal Budhram, chief spokesperson Prof. Baljinder Kaur, Rupinder Kaur Ruby, Manjit Singh Bilaspur (All MLAs), former Member of Parliament Prof. Sadhu Singh, District President (Bathinda) Navdeep Jida, Jaspal Singh Datewas, Narinder Kaur Bharaj, Youth Wing President Manjinder Singh Sidhu, Trade Wing Punjab Vice President Anil Thakur and all party volunteers.
As the AAP leadership, along with party activists, marched towards the office of Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal after the protest to ‘gherao’ it, the police on high alert allegedly manhandled the protestors. Sensing trouble, the SDM Bathinda rushed to the spot and received the memorandum from the AAP leaders.
Addressing the ‘dharna’, Hayer said the power and land mafia, which was earlier run by Sukhbir Singh Badal, was now calling the shots allegedly under the command of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. He added the Aam Aadmi Party would vehemently oppose the closure of Guru Nanak Thermal Plant at Bathinda, the sale of 1764 acres of plant land, which was an attempt to play with the historic city Bathinda's identity. Elaborating further, the AAP leader said that Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, dedicated on the birth anniversary of the first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev in 1969, was constructed on a land measuring 1764 acres belonging to farmers of several villages of Bathinda.
Principal Budhram on the occasion said that FM Manpreet Singh Badal, who enticed gullible people through his typical poetic style before the polls, by doling out a tall claim that he won’t allow closure of the thermal plant, saying he was running away from the promise made to the people. He added that by taking this lopsided decision, the government had set the agenda to destroying the identity of Bathinda and doling out its land to its loved ones for peanuts. Referring to raging reports appearing in a section of the press, he decried the decision of the Punjab Cabinet to give nod to the sale of land belonging to the thermal plant, which would be a great betrayal with the people, especially the farmers. He threatened that Aam Aadmi Party would not allow this to happen at any cost, saying the party would stage protests against the Badal in every nook and corners of the city.
Professor Baljinder Kaur alleged that the Bathinda Thermal Plant, which was dedicated to the state on the occasion of 500th Prakash Divas (1969) of Guru Nanak Dev, was handed over be the previous Badal government to private thermal plants under the deadly pacts, adding that the Captain government had also backtracked on its promise to renege the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with private power companies, a promise it made before assuming power in 2017, terming it as yet another cruel joke with the people.
The AAP leaders, including former MP Prof. Sadhu Singh, MLA Rupinder Kaur Ruby and MLA Manjit Singh Bilaspur demanded that if the government had taken the decision to shut down the thermal plant permanently, the lands should be restored to the farmers from whom these were acquired in 1969 for the pupose. They called upon the farmers of the area to come forward to raise a pitch against the Capt government’s deadly decision, which was allegedly acting as broker between the land mafia, saying the Aam Aadmi Party would fight their legal and other battles till the time justice was done to them.
The AAP leaders warned that the government should revisit its decision on dismantling the thermal plant, failing which the AAP, if voted to power in the 2022 Assembly polls, would revive the Bathinda thermal plant, by scrapping the suicidal PPAs with the private players. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would highlight and rectify all such anti-people and anti-Punjab decisions taken by the successive governments.