SAS Nagar: The Mohali police on Sunday booked around 150 protesting Teachers Eligibility Test (TET)-qualified unemployed teachers for attempt to murder after some of them allegedly threw petrol on a cop.
SAS Nagar: The Mohali police on Sunday booked around 150 protesting Teachers Eligibility Test (TET)-qualified unemployed teachers for attempt to murder after some of them allegedly threw petrol on a cop.
The protesters who have been seeking appointment letters and are on a dharna at the Sohana water tank blocked the Airport Road around 10am. While a cop was recording a video on the spot, some of them allegedly threw petrol on him and threatened to burn him.
The protesters, who have blocked the Airport Road earlier as well, had threatened self-immolation on Saturday. Besides booking all the protesters by name for attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the police also took six protesters in preventive custody, said senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal.
Sources said during the protest, one of the union leaders also tried to cut her wrist, but was stopped by others.
The blockade led to diversion of traffic on the busy road. Even villagers and residents of nearby societies came to talk to the protesters to break the deadlock. The situation had not changed till filing of this report late in the night. The police has barricaded the stretch from all sides. Besides heavy police force, other emergency vehicles have also been stationed at the spot.
“We are being harassed every alternate day by the protesters, as they are blocking the roads,” said Kuldeep Singh, a Sohana resident. Punjab chief minister’s officer on special duty Capt Sandeep Sandhu, Mohali deputy commissioner Gurpreet Kaur Sapra and SSP Chahal had visited the spot on Sunday to break the deadlock, but to no avail.
The Punjab cabinet on Friday gave nod to issue appointment orders to 1,337 candidates against 6,060 posts of TET-qualified master cadre teachers advertised in 2015. The government had also decided to advertise 4,183 new posts in view of a judgment of the Supreme Court.
