The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Punjab, has expressed its grave concern over the crippling law and order situation in the state, alleging that the government seemed to have succumbed to the pulls and pressures of the powerful ‘mafia raj’. A delegation of the AAP MLAs and senior leaders, led by leader of opposition in Punjab assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema, on Tuesday met the director general of police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta, and brought the prevailing law and order situation in the state, saying that the situation on the ground had gone from bad to worse, if the spurt in incidents of crime was any indication.The delegation comprised, besides LoP Harpal Singh Cheema, Principal Budh Ram, Sarabjit Kaur Manuke, Kultar Singh Sandhu, Aman Arora, Baljinder Kaur, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Rupinder Kaur Ruby, Jai Krishan Singh Rori, Manjit Singh Bilaspur, Kulwant Singh Pandori (All MLAs), Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Harchand Singh Bursat, Dalbir Singh Dhillon, Sukhwinder Pal Sukhi, Gurdit Singh Sekhon, Raj Lalli Gill, Justice Jora Singh, Narinder Singh Shergill, Nina Mittal, Advocate Hardeep Singh, Navdeep Singh Sangha and Manjit Singh Sidhu.The delegation accused the police dispensation of having bowed down to the pressure of the powerful government-sponsored mafia, gangsters and anti-social elements, saying that the political patronage being extended to goons by the ruling party, being the reason behind the helplessness of the police administration.The delegation said that the law and order situation in the state had been worse than it was during the previous Badal government, saying that the Police dispensation was head over heels into rampant corruption from top to bottom, which had impacted the functioning of the force, resulting in the collapse of law and order machinery in the state.
In its memorandum submitted to the DGP, the delegation said that, while on the one hand, the morale of the police was at the low ebb due to political interference, on the other the corrupt were calling the shots at the behest of their political godfathers, adding that in such an environment, honest and upright police officers and employees were rendered helpless. The recent two examples of political interference proved the point. The suspension of DSP Balwinder Singh, posted at Ludhiana, under pressure from Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, saying that the upright police officer, Balwinder Singh, was probing the multi-crore CLU scam in Ludhiana, in which the minister’s name had prominently figured.The other case involved the ‘agreement’ facilitated by Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, between ASP Jatinder Arora and Congress leader Gurpreet Gopi over an issue. Arora was on duty in Ludhiana during the Punjab Youth Congress elections, which had demoralized the force, the memorandum said.The delegation informed the DGP that both ruling Congress and the Akali Dal (Badal) were extending patronage to gangsters and mighty mafia lords in the state, blaming each other over their linkage to the gangsters, mafia lords and anti-social elements, alleging that both had been on the forefront in nurturing mafia, gangsters and anti-social elements.The delegation, through the memorandum had demanded registration of cases against each other from the Congress party and Akali Dal (Badal) on the basis of the allegations and counter allegation being leveled against each other for their links with gangsters and mafia, no matter how high and mighty the person might be.The delegation had also demanded that the rule of law be established in the state by initiating necessary steps immediately to free the police from political interference, thereby re-instilling a semblance of faith among the common man in police dispensation.The delegation demanded the reinstatement of the suspended DSP Balwinder Singh to give a push to the morale of the police force in the state.