Lathi charge on MNREGA employees is highly condemnable. *People's struggles cannot be suppressed with lathi-charge

Lathi charge on MNREGA employees is highly condemnable. *People's struggles cannot be suppressed with lathi-charge

Patiala/Chandigarh 15 July ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : The MNREGA employees, who are struggling to get their services merged with the Rural Development and Panchayat Department and get their arrears of 6 to 8 months paid, staged a protest in front of the residence of Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Saund here today. The police administration had already been informed in writing. The MNREGA Employees Union had already informed the media and Senior Superintendent of Police Madam Darpan Ahluwalia about the protest. Today, when the MNREGA employees gathered at the Municipal Park, the gathering was unorganized and there was a lack of arrangements. The employees demanded that some solution be found from the administration. When no administrative officer reached the protest, the union announced to march in 30 minutes and stage a protest in front of the Panchayat Minister's house.

When the protesters started marching towards the Panchayat Minister's residence, the administration stopped them by erecting barriers. The employees started the protest from there. After waiting for an hour, some employees fainted due to the heat and had to be admitted to the hospital. The union demanded drinking water and shade from the administration, but the Deputy Superintendent of Police present at the spot refused. The union then demanded that they be allowed to sit in the park built in the colony as it was not possible to sit on the road. When the police administration did not listen to anything, the NREGA employees started entering the colony by pushing aside the barricades. A dangerous lathi charge was launched. Water cannons were fired, and dangerous tear gas shells were fired. In which one employee, Sudagar Singh Fatehgarh Sahib, had his leg broken in two places. More than a dozen employees were injured and had to be taken to the hospital by the employees with great difficulty. Later, Sudagar Singh was referred to Mohali due to a badly broken leg. A large number of employees are admitted to various hospitals.

The leaders of the mass organizations and the united front said in a warning tone that lathi-charge is not the solution to any problem. The good thing was that they would have sat down and talked to them and their problems would have been resolved. While issuing a statement to the press, the leaders of the joint front of public organizations, Darshan Belu Majra, Jaswinder Singh Sauja, Lakhwinder Singh Khanpur, Jasvir Khokhar, Swaran Singh Bangan, Rajpal Singh Lasoi, Dharmapal Singh Lot Parlad Singh Nyal Dhanna Singh Don Kalan, Amarjit Ghanoor, Malkit Singh Nyal Kuldeep Ghagga, Hardev Singh Samana, Nath Singh Bujarak, Dayal Singh Sidhu, Sucha Singh Kaul, Satpal Singh Noorkhaidi, Sukhpal Singh Kadarabad and Suresh Samana said that while they strongly condemn this incident today, they warn the government. That the path of sticks and bullets leads to the poor, along with this, where people are suffering, these hands will also take the government to task, therefore, the government should stop their empty dramas and talk to the various parties who are in the field of struggle and solve the problems of the people seriously and not with jokes. The leaders of the joint front of the public organization said that while they have been supporting these employees in the past, they will help them in the future too.