Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today directed the security forces
to stay on alert in view of the "volatile situation" prevailing in some
of the neighbouring states during Bharat Bandh called by various SC/ST
organisations.
Singh urged the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes community to wait for the Supreme Court's decision on the review
petition filed by the Centre and assured them of all possible efforts to
address their grievances, both legally and administratively.
The chief minister, who personally monitored the situation throughout
the day, claimed Punjab remained "largely peaceful" as a result of the
security blanket in place.
Though some incidents of blockade of
railway tracks, roads and highways had been reported from certain areas,
the protesters were quickly persuaded to lift the same, Singh said in a
statement here, regretting the inconvenience caused to the people.
He lauded the police, district officials and paramilitary forces for
showing exceptional restraint in dealing with large groups of "highly
agitated and surcharged" protesters at more than 500 areas across the
state.
According to an official release, there were 10 incidents
of blockade of railway track, 11 major road blockades involving
national/state highways and 12 incidents of minor road blockades, with
about 3-4 incidents of injuries to people, including a policeman in
civil clothes in Mansa.
The chief minister thanked all the
people for heeding his appeal and not allowing the situation to escalate
out of control, as had happened in 2009, when violence had erupted in
the state in the wake of the attack on a Guru Ravi Dass Gurdwara
preacher in Vienna, leading to loss of life and property.
"Had
the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime taken adequate precautionary measures at
that time, the state would not have witnessed the unnecessary violence,"
Amarinder said, taking a dig at Union minister Vijay Sampla's statement
in a section of media against the government's decision to suspend
Internet services ahead of today's bandh.
PTI
