Tribune News Service - Bathinda, July 8
Traffic
on the Bathinda-Chandigarh highway was hit as ex-servicemen today
blocked the highway outside the cantonment area here demanding the
implementation of the ‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP) policy. The highway
remained closed for more than two hours.
As
the number of stranded vehicles increased, the district administration
diverted these from Bucho towards Nathana and other villages.Around 2,000 ex-servicemen from across the state participated in the protest.On seeing the large number of protesters, Army officials closed all gates leading to the cantonment.
Carrying
placards and wearing black badges, ex-servicemen raised slogans against
the Modi government and its Finance and Defence Ministers for not
implementing the scheme. At 10 am, a large number of ex-servicemen
gathered outside the cantonment police station.Some
protesters held a march from the Sub-Area gate to the Corps HQ gate. As
the gate was closed, these protesters had to sit in Chetak Park.
The
large number of ex-servicemen who remained at the Sub-Area gate blocked
the Bathinda-Chandigarh highway stating that a senior Army official
should come and take their memorandum.
Seeing
the situation had become tense, SP City Desraj and Sub-Divisional
Magistrate (SDM) Damanjit Singh Mann reached the spot and requested the
protesters to clear the highway, but the ex-servicemen stayed put for
more than two hours.Then,
the SDM talked with Army officials and took a few protesters, who were
sitting at Chetak Park, to Army officials. Only when the protesters
handed over the memorandum to them was the protest called off.
Brigadier
Indermohan Singh (retd), president, Indian Ex-Services League, Punjab,
said, “OROP has been a long-standing demand of ex-servicemen and relates
to payment of uniform pension to defence forces personnel retiring in
the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their
date of retirement.” He apologised to the commuters who had to face
harassment today due to road blockage.
He
warned that veterans would not rest until the government implemented
OROP and that the protest would be intensified in the coming days.
Commuters irked as EX-SM block highway
Sukhmeet Bhasin - Tribune News Service -Bathinda, July 8
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| Traffic jam at the Bathinda-Chandigarh Road |
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| Police personnel disperse the protesting ex-servicemen to make way for vehicles stuck in the traffic jam caused after the protesters sat on the Bathinda-Chandigarh highway |
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| Commuters argue with the protesters in Bathinda on Wednesday. Tribune photos: Pawan sharma |
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| Commuters argue with the agitating ex-servicemen who had blocked traffic in the Cantonment area on Wednesday. Tribune photos: pawan sharma |
Vehicle
movement was brought to a standstill on the Bathinda-Chandigarh
national highway for about over two hours this morning when
ex-servicemen resorted to a blockade outside the cantonment area over
the delay in the implementation of One Rank, One Pension (OROP).
The
ex-servicemen gathered on the road at 10am, blocking traffic on both
sides of the road. The protest was lifted only at 1 am after they
submitted a memorandum to Army officials. Commuters had to face
hardships due to the protest.
Long
queues of vehicles was witnessed on both sides of the highway. Unable
to move ahead or backwards, trucks, cars, buses, two-wheelers and other
vehicles found themselves stuck on the road. Commuters carrying their
luggage on foot blamed the district administration and the police for
not making alternate arrangements.
Poilce
and district administration officials present at the spot expressed
their helplessness in removing controlling the agitators. Some of the commuters entered into heated arguments with the agitators for harassing them by blocking the road. Gurjot
Kaur, a resident of Bucho, said today that she had to join the office
in the city as it was her first day in the office, but she was struck in
the traffic jam due to the protest.
She
said the district administration had announced that all protests must
be held at the Transport Nagar located on the outskirts of the city, but
both district and the police administration failed miserably in
restricting the protesters from holding demonstrations in the city and
causing inconvenience to the public.
Harish
Garg said he walked two kilometers with my son to reach the Bibiwala
road. There are many passengers who were still sitting in buses. He said the administration should divert the traffic fast so that they did not struck in the jam.
Sandeep
Singh, a resident of Barnala, said he had some work in court and had to
reach there at 11am, but due to the jam he was not able to reach the
court on time.
He
claimed that protesters should think of the public before blocking the
roads and harassing them. Their demands were genuine but what would
happen by blocking the road. Cantonment
police station, SHO, Harpreet Singh, said they had diverted the traffic
from Bucho and through Gobidnpura village, but police were not aware
that they would block the road as they had plan to take out a protest
march and submit a memorandum.
Veterans lay siege to highway in Bathinda; over 150 booked
PROTESTERS SIT ON DHARNA, BLOCKING THE BATHINDA-CHANDIGARH ROAD FOR OVER THREE HOURS, RESULTING IN TRAFFIC CHAOS
BATHINDA: Pressing for
immediate implementation of ‘one rank one pension’ (OROP) scheme,
hundreds of ex-servicemen on Wednesday blocked the busy Bathinda-
Chandigarh highway.
A police official arguing with an ex-serviceman during a protest in Bathinda on Wednesday. The police have booked over 150 protesters. Ex-servicemen from across the state, under the banner of Indian Ex-Services League (IESL), had gathered in the city to submit a memorandum to authorities at Bathinda cantonment in support of their demands. However, a group of angry veterans decided to lay siege to the highway and sat on dharna in front of the Cantt police station blocking both lanes, resulting in traffic chaos.
The blockade began
around 10 am and continued till 1 pm with protesters shouting slogan
against the central government. The road in front of the Chetak park was
also blocked, as a result the traffic had to be diverted from Bhucho,
on the outskirts of the city. Six
protesters, including Bhinder Singh, Ramji Das and Sukhdev Singh, all
from Sangrur, Baldev Singh from Tarn Taran and Kartar Singh, Baldev Raj
Joshi, both from Bathinda, were booked under Indian Penal Code sections
283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation) and 188
(disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant Cases were also registered against nearly 150 unidentified protesters.
As the police were not
expecting such a protest by the veterans, it hadn’t deployed much force
in the area. The local administration had a tough time persuading the
protesters to remove the blockade. Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM)
Damanjit Singh Mann said the ex-servicemen had initially planned to
submit a memorandum. However, a section of protesters later sat on a
dharna, disrupting traffic.
A delegation of
ex-servicemen, led by Brigadier Inder Mohan Singh (retired), submitted a
memorandum to a representative of the core commander at Bathinda
cantonment. He said veterans have decided to stage protests outside
military stations over OROP. Similar protests would be held at other
cantonments in the state, he said.Mohan
Singh said the association has urged former Punjab chief minister and
Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Captain Amarinder Singh to be a
part of protests in the coming days. “Earlier, we had planned to stage a
protest at Amritsar with Amarinder Singh on July 22. But we were told
that he might not be available on that day. So, we have yet to finalise a
date,” he said.
SCUFFLE BETWEEN EX-SERVICEMEN, LOCALS
High drama was
witnessed outside the Bathinda Cantt police station as scuffle broke out
between ex-servicemen and residents. Later, some protesters also
raised slogans against the Punjab and Chandigarh IESL president, blaming him for mismanagement.
EX-SERVICEMEN ON WARPATH
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| Ex-servicemen taking out a protest march in Bathinda on Wednesday. (SOURCE- SANJHA MORCHA) |
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